Indiana's jobless rate shoots up more than 1% to 8.2% for December 2008

By Scott Olson, The IBJ

solson@ibj.com

Indiana's unemployment rate shot up more than 1 percentage point to 8.2 percent in December, according to figures released this morning from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

The state's jobless rate grew from 7.1 percent in November and is a whopping 3.6 percentage points higher than the 4.6 percent unemployment rate recorded in December 2007.

Indiana lost nearly 39,000 jobs last month, roughly three times more than it did in November. Eight states, including Indiana, reported unemployment rate increases of one percentage point or greater.

"Today's report underscores the news we have heard across the nation about the current state of the economy," DWD Commissioner Teresa Voors said in a statement.

Job losses in the manufacturing, construction and retail sectors particularly contributed to the state's rise in unemployment, she said.

Nationally, unemployment rose in December to 7.2 percent from 6.8 percent the previous month, and is up 2.3 percentage points from a year earlier.