Indiana unemployment rate decreases in August

The Indiana Department of Workforce Development reported the largest one-month decrease in Indiana’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in more than two years.
The rate for August declined to 8.1 percent, a 0.3 percent difference from July, according to a Sept. 20 press release from the IDWD.

Indiana also added 3,000 manufacturing jobs last month, which Joe Frank, IDWD spokesman, said correlates with the decline in unemployment.

“Since July 2009, we have grown well over 60,000 manufacturing jobs in the state,” Frank said. “Indiana has the highest percentage of manufacturing jobs as a portion of the private sector in the United States.”

Frank said these changes are occurring because of the previous gubernatorial administration, which carried over into Gov. Mike Pence’s administration, as well as the Indiana General Assembly.

“They’ve done the right things to make Indiana a very attractive place to locate a business and grow a business,” Frank said.

Frank said they’ve structured corporate taxes to attract businesses and have made a priority of eliminating costly government regulations, which discouraged growth.

“Those are about two of the biggest things you can do to attract business,” Frank said.
Frank said the decline in unemployment influences the strength of the economy in the eyes of businesses.

“It directly correlates to businesses hiring. If businesses see and can gauge that the economy is improving, it results in them hiring more people,” Frank said. “More people are working and more people are buying things because they are confident about the economic situation in Indiana.”

Frank said it is important to make sure Indiana is providing the type of environment, which fosters education and training opportunities, to keep Indiana’s
workforce attractive.

“Our unemployment rate is still higher than the seasonally national average,” Frank said, which was 7.3 for August.

— Alli Friedman