Labor data changes tell good news, bad news story for Indiana

Indiana’s unemployment rate has been unchanged for five months, holding steady at 3.5 percent. That’s according to recently updated numbers from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The agency’s yearly revisions also show that the state had about 22,000 more people employed last year than originally reported.

The federal government spends the start of each year collecting more detailed information about the employment situation in each state. So, the report unveiled Monday includes revisions to previous years’ data.

Those changes tell a good news, bad news story about Indiana’s employment picture in 2023.

The updated data says the state actually began and ended last year with fewer people in the labor force and fewer people employed than previously estimated. That’s bad.

What’s good is that the changes in those numbers mean that Indiana actually grew its total labor force and number of people employed by more than previously reported.
 

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And while the number of people unemployed but still looking for work did go up, it increased way less than estimated before, by nearly 10,000 fewer people.

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