Indiana jobless rate outpacing most states

By Keith Benman, Times of Northwest Indiana
keith.benman@nwi.com

The unemployment rate continues to climb faster in Indiana than in most states, with only three others having a larger increase in unemployment from December to January, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report issued Wednesday.

Indiana's unemployment rate stood at 9.2 percent in January, a 1.4 percent increase from the month before, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. South Dakota, North Dakota and Oregon were the only states with larger month-over-month increases of 1.6 percent, according to the report.

The unemployment rate in Illinois increased to 7.9 percent in January from 7.2 percent the month before, according to the report. The national rate in February was 8.1 percent.

The accelerating unemployment rate in Indiana is due mainly to the fact that Americans are buying fewer big ticket items due to the recession, according to Ed Roberts, a vice president at the Indiana Association of Manufacturers.

"During hard times people buy bread. They buy food. They pay the bill to keep the lights on," Roberts said. "They don't buy durable goods."

Indiana remains the most manufacturing-intense state in the nation, with much of its economy tied to the troubled Big Three domestic automakers.

"And it impacts us way beyond the Big Three," Roberts said. "It impacts all the suppliers who make parts for the Big Three."

For most of last year, Indiana had lower unemployment than most of the nation. There are now only eight states with unemployment rates higher than Indiana's 9.2 percent rate.

In a departure from recent practice, the Indiana Department of Workforce Development this month released its monthly employment report five days before the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That made comparisons with the rest of the nation impossible.

Three states matched the 1.4 percent month-to-month increase in Indiana's unemployment rate. Those were California, Michigan and Ohio.

The current recession has now wiped out the job gains Indiana made since the end of the last recession in November 2001.

According to Wednesday's Bureau of Labor Statistics report, 2,887,000 million people were employed by Hoosier businesses in January. That is the lowest number since April 2002, when Indiana employment reached a trough of 2,886,100.