unemployment

Indiana’s labor market appeared to remain stagnantly tight in July, according to new preliminary federal estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Indiana’s 3.3 percent July unemployment rate is still near record lows for the state.

Indiana's unemployment rate was just above 3.2 percent in June, new federal estimates show. The unemployment rate has hovered between 3 percent and 3.2 percent since late 2022 and has been accompanied by record-high total employment. There are a few important limitations in the state and local labor market data the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics releases every month.

State officials say some of the tight rules on unemployment benefits end up clogging up the system, preventing people from quickly getting paid and costing the state a lot of money – especially during economic downturns. A bill to alleviate some of DWD’s administrative burden and expedite the process of getting more money to beneficiaries heads to the governor’s desk after passing the Senate Tuesday.

2022 was a unique year for Indiana’s labor market. New federal estimates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggest a record-high number of Hoosiers were working – but not as many as employers may need. Experts say such employment numbers don’t say much about why 2022’s labor market looked the way it did or about what the future holds.

Lawmakers hope to streamline the process to reduce the amount of work the state has to do to give claimants their money. On Tuesday, Indiana’s House passed House Bill 1451 to simplify the process for Hoosiers receiving unemployment compensation. Though, it wouldn’t change the application process.

It appears for now employers are still posting more jobs than the state’s available job seekers can fill. Experts say one cause of that could be a lack of access to affordable child care in Indiana. A state Senate committee is considering funding a pilot program that would split costs between families, employers and the state to bring more parents back into the workforce.

The state is close to settling a long-lingering lawsuit over the unemployment system’s false fraud accusations that targeted thousands of people.

More than 500 people are already scheduled to lose jobs to layoffs and site closures in the first half of next year as experts predict a recession. That can be a pretty scary outlook, but new preliminary labor market estimates tell a more complicated story.

Indiana’s unemployment rate has remained below 3 percent for 12 straight months despite rising inflation, interest rates and layoffs.

The case dates back to 2015, when an automated system incorrectly tagged tens of thousands of people for fraud.