Indiana’s unemployment rate held steady at 3.5% in March, unchanged from February, according to new data from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. According to the Indiana Business Research Center at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, this is another sign that the nation’s economic slowdown has bottomed out. The evidence seems to say that the U.S. economy has indeed achieved a “soft landing.”

The unemployment rate in Indiana remains well below the national rate, which was 4.6% in March on a non-seasonally adjusted basis (see Chart 1).

March unemployment of 3.5% in Indiana, non-seasonally adjusted, is actually lower than in the first quarter of last year. We’ve seen a few highly publicized layoffs at major Indiana plants, and those certainly are bad news. But looking at the state as a whole, economists at the Business Research Center see encouraging trends.

Historically, for example, this state’s unemployment rate declines as summer approaches. And February and March unemployment this year were lower than in January. So barring any unusual circumstances nationally, we can expect unemployment in Indiana to improve further during the coming months.

Indiana’s March rate gave us the 12th lowest unemployment rate in the country. Chart 2 shows the top 15 states in the U.S. for low unemployment in March.

Unemployment rates in some of the nation’s larger states, both in the Midwest and on the coasts, were significantly higher than in Indiana. Chart 3 shows the 15 states with the highest unemployment rates in March, with Indiana added for comparison.

CHART 2:

CHART 3:

Jim Smith
Indiana Business Research Center
Kelley School of Business
Indiana University
05/11/01