Money

A company that provides insurance to churches and other ministries has announced it will expand its headquarters on its 30-acre campus in Fort Wayne.

Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company will invest $15 million to build a 55,000 square foot facility, which it expects to be operational by early 2014.

The company says the move could create up to 102 new jobs in the next four years.

With a month still to go this year, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation Wednesday announced 2012 will set a record for commitments from companies to locate or expand operations in the state.  But IEDC CEO Dan Hasler says he’d still like to see more of the commitments turn into actual jobs.

Since the mid-1990s, per capita income (as a percentage of national per capita income) has been steadily dropping for residents of Northeastern Indiana. But new data released this week shows the downward trend may have finally turned the corner.

Indiana’s private sector added 7,700 jobs last month and lowered its unemployment rate to 8%.

The unemployment rate fell 0.2% in October, the largest single month drop since April.  It also marked a decrease for the second consecutive month after gaining or holding steady for six months. 

Sweetwater Sound broke ground Wednesday on its expansion at the company’s headquarters along US 30.

Sweetwater President Chuck Surack joined Governor Mitch Daniels, Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry, and Allen County Commissioner Nelson Peters at the event.

Surack says Sweetwater will add more than 300 employees over the next four years, with an eye toward hiring even more if business keeps booming.

Surack says a business model focusing on customer service has kept Sweetwater expanding, but his location in Northeastern Indiana has been key, as well.

Indiana’s private sector lost nearly 6,000 jobs in September, the first decline in nearly a year.  Yet the state’s employment rate also fell for the first time since April.

Indiana’s unemployment rate had gone up or held steady for five months while, at the same time, the private sector created jobs. 

Last month, that trend changed as the unemployment rate fell to 8.2%.  University of Indianapolis economist Matt Will says while September’s jobs report isn’t positive, it also isn’t time to panic.