Carol Johnson, Southern Indiana Business Report
Indiana’s Department of Workforce Development released its unemployment report for January 2023.
Indiana’s seasonally adjusted rate of 3.1% was below the national jobless rate of 3.6%. The national unemployment rate, 3.4 percent, was little changed over the month, but was 0.6 percentage point lower than in January 2022.
Indiana had a non-seasonally adjusted rate of 3.4%, which was higher than the month before. December’s rate was 2.6% and January 2022 was 3.3%.
Indiana’s labor force participation rate in January was 63.4%; the national rate was 62.4%. As of March 1, the state had 130,839 open job postings. Indiana reported 3,236,300 non-farm jobs and saw an increase of 13,500 jobs in the non-farm sector. The total number of manufacturing jobs was 543,500, a decrease of 1,800.
The counties with the lowest rates were Gibson, Boone and Hamilton, each reporting 2.3% unemployment. Thirty-seven counties had rates higher than the state rate.
Looking at the Radius Indiana counties, Dubois, Daviess and Martin counties had the lowest jobless rates – each was below 3% – in the Radius region.
Radius counties with the highest unemployment rates were Lawrence, Greene and Crawford, each near or above 4%.
Percentage of jobless claims in Region 8, which includes Greene, Lawrence, Orange, Martin and Daviess, were led by construction at 39.2% of claims. Manufacturing claims were 10.2%, Administrative and Support, Waste Management and Remediation Services claims were 9.6%, Transportation and Warehousing, 7.6% and accommodations and food services 4.3%.
The eight counties in the Radius Indiana region saw their rates fluctuate when comparing January 2023 to December 2022.
Crawford County’s 4.3% jobless rate for January was up from December 2022 when its rate was 3.1% and was lower than its rate of 4.6% for January 2022.
With a workforce of 13,746, Washington County’s rate of 3% in January was higher than the previous month’s 2.2% jobless rate. A year ago, its rate was 2.9%.
Dubois County reported a workforce of 21,833 and 547 people looking for work. Its January jobless rate of 2.5% was an increase from its 1.9% rate in December. A year ago, its jobless rate was 2.2%.
Daviess County reported a workforce of 16,632 and 402 looking for jobs. Its January rate of 2.4% jumped from the previous month’s 1.7%. A year ago its rate was 2.6%.
Lawrence County reported 797 looking for work and a workforce of 20,438. Its January jobless rate of 3.9% was an increase from its 3.0% rate in December.
Martin County reported 151 looking for work and a workforce of 5,447. Its jobless rate of 2.8% was up slightly from the previous month’s 2.4%.
Orange County reported a workforce of 8,429 and 303 looking for work. The jobless rate in January rose nearly a full percentage point from December.
A total of 557 people were looking for work in Greene County and 13,630 made up the county’s workforce. Its January jobless rate of 4.1% was down slightly from January 2022 when the rate was 4.2% but higher than December when its rate was 3.3%.
Area unemployment rankings for January 2023
No. 10 Crawford (4.3%)
No. 14 Greene (4.1%)
No. 17 Lawrence (3.9%)
No. 32 Orange (3.6%)
No. 64 Washington (3%)
No. 76 Martin (2.8%)
No. 87 Dubois (2.5%)
No. 89 Daviess (2.4%)