Monroe County ranks 2nd most employed in Indiana

Although still higher than the U.S. average, Indiana’s unemployment rate for October has dropped below 10 percent for the first time since March.

The state reported 9.9 percent seasonally-adjusted unemployment for the month of October, a 0.2 percent drop from September, according to new data released by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development on Nov. 23.

“The seasonally adjusted rate takes into account seasonal employment,” Valerie Kroeger, assistant communications director for the Indiana Department of Workforce Development said. “We always go with the seasonally adjusted rate for better trends.”

While the new numbers appear to be a shift in the right direction, Bradley Heim, associate professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, said the numbers may not accurately portray employment trends in the state.

“It’s important to understand what employment captures,” he said.

Hein said unemployment statistics are calculated by dividing the number of unemployed people actively seeking work by the number of people who are employed or seeking work.

He said the data ignores people such as those who are not at that time looking for
employment.

Unemployment in Monroe County, according to the report, is 6.4 percent, making it the second most employed county in the state.

“My sense is that the local economy is very much driven by the University, by the hospital, by Crane. They’re insulated from the other ups and downs,” Heim said. “The ups and downs of the macroeconomy affect those jobs less.”

The dip in the state’s reported unemployment has accompanied an increase in the number of private sector jobs available in Indiana.

“We had the sixth highest percentage of private sector job growth of all states for October,” Kroeger said.

She said the state has specifically seen growth in the professional and business service job sectors.

Nevertheless, Heim said the recently released data might not actually mean anything.

“A year or so ago in these same numbers, there was a dip below 10 percent, and it rose,” Heim said.

The original unemployment numbers are preliminary values, he said.

Heim said we’ll only know the economy has recovered when the recovery from the economic downturn is complete.

“You can tell in hindsight when things turned around,” he said.