Nearly 13,000 more Hoosiers found employment in May 2016 than the previous month while the number of unemployed dropped by more than 5,000. This positive ratio enabled Indiana’s labor force, a measure of Hoosiers employed or seeking employment, to continue its positive momentum and bring total labor force growth to more than 186,000 since January 2013.
Marshall County’s unemployment rate for May was 3.6 down from April’s rate of 4.2 and March’s 4.7. Marshall County is ranked 78th on the list of Indiana’s 92 counties.
Looking at the counties that surrounding Marshall you find LaPorte 6thin the state with an unemployment rate of5.7 down from 6.5 in April. Starke County is 14thon the list with a rate of 5.2 with a continued downward trend of 6.0 in April and 7.3 in March. Fulton County is 32nd with a rate of 4.5 in May, down from 5.3 in April and 5.8 in March. Joseph County is 41st with a rate of 4.4 a slight decrease from April’s 4.8.
Kosciusko and Elkhart Counties rank in the lower quarter of counties along with Marshall. Kosciusko was ranked 72nd in the state with an April unemployment rate of 4.1. That rate dropped to 3.7 and a 71st ranking while Elkhart County’s is the best in the area, ranked 80th with a rate of 3.5 down from April’s rate of 3.9.
The corresponding effect of growth in employment along with a decline in unemployment lowered Indiana’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate to 5.0 percent. The unemployment rate, a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicator that reflects the number of unemployed people as a percentage of the labor force, declined by 0.2 percent over the previous month. Additionally, the state’s labor force participation rate increased 0.1 percent in May while the nation’s rate decreased 0.2 percent for the second consecutive month. Indiana’s participation rate now stands at nearly three percent above the national average (65.4 percent vs. 62.6 percent).
“Indiana’s labor force participation rate is at the highest point since 2009 and continues to outpace the national average,” said Steven J. Braun, Commissioner of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. “Indiana experienced positive gains in employment accompanied by a decrease in unemployment, which suggests that many Hoosier job-seekers, including those joining the workforce for the first time in May, found success in securing gainful employment.”
Commissioner Braun also noted that Indiana’s private sector employment growth since July 2009, the low point of employment, has surpassed the nation (13.7 percent vs. 12.6 percent). Additionally, he referenced that initial unemployment insurance claims for the first 23 weeks of 2016 are at their lowest point since 1987.
The highest levels of growth occurred in the Trade, Transportation and Utilities (3,700) and Financial Activities (300) sectors. Gains were offset with losses inProfessional & Business Services (-3,400), Leisure and Hospitality (-2,100) Manufacturing (-2,100), and Private Education & Health Services (-1,100)sectors. Over the past three years, Indiana’s private sector has grown by more than 147,000 jobs.
