Tagged: labor

Indiana’s unemployment rate went up once again in February, though the state’s private sector marked the 20th consecutive month of job growth.

Indiana’s private sector added 5,800 jobs last month.  And since July of 2009, the low point of the recession, the state has created jobs in all but four months.  But at 8.7% in February, Indiana’s unemployment rate is at its highest level in more than a year.

The fears of opponents of Indiana’s Right to Work law appear to be bolstered by statistics showing a significant decrease in the state’s union membership since 2011.  But leaders on both sides of the debate say Right to Work likely had little effect.

Union membership in Indiana dropped about 20% from 2011 to 2012, just as Indiana’s Right to Work law, which prohibits union contracts that require workers to pay dues for representation, went into effect. 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says Indiana’s unemployment rate increased for the second straight month in July even though the state’s private sector added jobs for the ninth consecutive month. But state officials say those numbers don’t add up.

Thirty-three hundred private sector jobs were created last month and government hiring surged, leading to an increase in total non-farm employment of more than ten thousand jobs.  But Indiana’s unemployment rate increased to 8.2%.