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Indiana's December Unemployment Rate Lowest In Midwest

A graph showing Indiana's seasonally adjusted unemployment rates throughout 2020.
Justin Hicks/IPB News
A graph showing Indiana's seasonally adjusted unemployment rates throughout 2020.

Indiana’s unemployment rate fell to 4.3 percent in December, dropping almost a full percentage point from the month before according to numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Tuesday morning.

The data shows a surge of more than 80,000 being counted in the labor force – the number of Hoosiers who were working, or actively looking for work last month. The state also reported a 64 percent labor force participation rate.

There were significant increases in people working in Trade, Transportation and Utility sectors, while Leisure and Hospitality jobs saw losses as COVID-19 infection rates grew.

READ MORE: Lawyers Urge Halt to DWD's 'Aggressive' Attempts To Collect On Unemployment Errors

The new unemployment rate places Indiana as the best in the Midwest for December and remains much lower than the national rate of 6.7 percent. 

Contact reporter Justin at  jhicks@wvpe.org or follow him on Twitter at @Hicks_JustinM.

Justin Hicks is a workforce reporter for IPB News based at WVPE in Elkhart. He comes to Indiana by way of New York. He has a master's degree from the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University and earned a Bachelor of Music Degree from Appalachian State University where he played trumpet. He first learned about Elkhart, Indiana, because of the stamp on his brass instrument indicating where it was produced. Justin was born and raised in Mt. Olive, North Carolina. He currently lives in South Bend with his dog, Charlotte.
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