Ind. unemployment drops below 6 percent

At 5.9 percent, Indiana’s unemployment rate is below 6 percent for the first time since 2008, according to a report from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. Indiana’s rate has dropped 2 percent in the last year.

A year ago in March 2013, the rate was 7.9 percent.

This 2-percent drop is the third-largest difference of any state in the country during the last year.

Data from the Bureau of Labor shows the unemployment rate declined by about 0.2 percentage points in March.

The DWD reported this decline in unemployment is because of a growth in private sector jobs.

Indiana added 3,200 private sector jobs in March, surpassing 25,000 for job creation during the first quarter of 2014 alone.

March was the sixth-consecutive month the labor force in Indiana increased.

Scott B. Sanders, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, called the growth “remarkable.”

Sanders also reported claims for state unemployment insurance last month were nearly 10,000 below levels in March last year.

Claims for unemployment insurance are at their lowest since 2000, according to the DWD report.

Indiana’s unemployment rate is markedly lower than the federal rate, which is 6.7 percent.

M.K. Wildeman