Indiana unemployment rate rises to 9.4 percent for February 2009

By Scott Olson, The IBJ

solson@ibj.com

The state's unemployment inched up just one-tenth of a percentage point, to 9.4 percent, in February, compared with the revised rate in January, according to figures released this morning by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
 
The rate climbed from a seasonally adjusted revised rate of 9.3 percent in January and is still the state's highest rate in 25 years. Job declines in transportation and automotive parts manufacturing continue to drive the high unemployment. 

The Indianapolis metropolitan area's non-seasonally adjusted rate jumped two-tenths of a percentage point, to 8.2 percent, according to the report, and the city lost more than 2,000 jobs.

Indiana shed nearly 4,500 jobs in February, much fewer than the 17,413 it lost in January.

An increase in construction jobs helped to offset the job losses in the automotive industry, said DWD Commissioner Teresa Voors in a written statement.

"We expect to see continued growth as outdoor construction resumes, but this may not completely negate extended furloughs and layoffs in the automobile industry in the coming months," she said.

In the Midwest, Indiana's 0.1-percentage-point month-to-month increase was the lowest among its neighboring states. Illinois' 0.8-percentage-point increase was the largest.

Indiana's unemployment rate continues to exceed the national jobless rate, which was 8.1 percent in February.

The number of unemployed Hoosiers in the state now numbers 324,178, and is likely to grow.

Elkhart County again had the state's highest jobless rate, but its rate in February declined to 18 percent, down from January's 18.3 percent.

Nearly 2,800 workers at large Indiana employers have been notified this month that they face losing their jobs by early summer, according to the Associated Press.

The largest of Indiana's layoff announcements made in March were for 515 workers at Monaco Coach plants in Elkhart and Kosciusko counties, and for 439 jobs at a Caterpillar plant in Lafayette.

Indiana's 9.3-percent rate in January was revised from the 9.2-percent figure the state reported earlier this month.