For unemployment in the Hoosier State, 2016 began just as 2015 ended. The state's unemployment remained unchanged between December and January.
The January unemployment rate is 4.6 percent – that's nearly a percentage point less than it was a year ago and better than all of Indiana's neighboring states. And, over the past six years, from the height of the recession, Indiana's unemployment rate dropped more than 6 percent.
January's numbers also include an annual revision from the federal government. Essentially, the feds double-check state unemployment data annually and make necessary changes. The revision covers the last year and a half of unemployment numbers and found Indiana's unemployment rates were better in the first half of 2015 and a little worse in the second half.
And last year, out of a work force of around 3.2 million people, the average number of unemployed Hoosiers was about 156,000.