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Indiana unemployment rate ticks up in November, highest in more than two years

Indiana's unemployment rate in November 2023 is the same as the U.S. rate, the first time the state hasn't been lower than its national counterpart in more than three years.
Indiana's unemployment rate in November 2023 is the same as the U.S. rate, the first time the state hasn't been lower than its national counterpart in more than three years.

Indiana’s unemployment rate ticked up a tenth of a percentage point last month, to 3.7 percent — the highest the rate has been in more than two years.

A 3.7 percent unemployment rate for Indiana matches the national unemployment rate. That’s the first time the state rate hasn’t been lower than the overall U.S. rate in more than three and a half years.

An economic outlook delivered to state lawmakers this week projects employment growth will slow significantly in 2024 and forecasts job losses in the two years after that. Still, that same forecaster a year ago predicted Indiana would see jobs increase by just 0.4 percent this year; job growth has actually been around 2 percent for the Hoosier State.

READ MORE: Why hasn’t Indiana raised its minimum wage?

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Indiana’s labor force participation rate — a key number that measures both people with a job and those actively looking for work — halted a three-month decline in November, holding steady at 63.3 percent, better than the national rate.

Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at  bsmith@ipbs.org  or follow him on Twitter at  @brandonjsmith5 .

Brandon J. Smith has previously worked as a reporter and anchor for KBIA Radio in Columbia, MO. Prior to that, he worked for WSPY Radio in Plano, IL as a show host, reporter, producer and anchor. His first job in radio was in another state capitol, in Jefferson City, as a reporter for three radio stations around Missouri. Brandon graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a Bachelor of Journalism in 2010, with minors in political science and history. He was born and raised in Chicago.