Unemployment in Bartholomew County increased in December but remained lower than the national and state rates, according to figures released this week by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
The jobless rate in Bartholomew County was 2.4% in December, up from 2% in December 2022, the figures show.
U.S. unemployment was 3.7% last month, up slightly from 3.5% in December 2022. In Indiana, the jobless rate was 3.6% in December, up from 3.1% a year earlier.
In Jackson County, unemployment ticked up from 2.2% in December 2022 to 2.3% last month, while the jobless rate in Jennings County rose from 2.7% to 3% over the same period.
The update from state officials came as more Americans filed jobless benefits last week but layoffs remain at historically low levels despite elevated interest rates and a flurry of job cuts in the media and technology sectors, The Associated Press reported.
Applications for unemployment benefits rose to 214,000 for the week ending Jan. 20, an increase of 25,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
The four-week average of claims, a less volatile measure, fell by 1,500 to 202,250.
Weekly unemployment claims are viewed as representative for the number of U.S. layoffs in a given week, according to wire reports. They have remained at extraordinarily low levels despite high interest rates and elevated inflation.
In Bartholomew County, 43 workers filed unemployment claims the week ending Jan. 13, up from 36 the week before, according to the most recent data from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
Overall, 222 Bartholomew County workers were drawing jobless benefits the week ending Jan. 6, up from 202 the week ending Dec. 30.
On Thursday, the federal government said that the nation’s economy grew at an unexpectedly brisk 3.3% annual pace from October through December as Americans showed a continued willingness to spend freely despite high interest rates and price levels that have frustrated many households, according to the AP.
Thursday’s report from the Commerce Department said the gross domestic product — the economy’s total output of goods and services — decelerated from its sizzling 4.9% growth rate the previous quarter. But the latest figures still reflected the surprising durability of the world’s largest economy, marking the sixth straight quarter in which GDP has grown at an annual pace of 2% or more, according to wire reports. Consumers fueled much of last quarter’s expansion.
For all of 2023, the economy grew 2.5%, up from 1.9% in 2022.
The state of the economy is sure to weigh on people’s minds ahead of the November elections. After an extended period of gloom, Americans are starting to feel somewhat better about inflation and the economy — a trend that could sustain consumer spending, fuel economic growth and potentially affect voters’ decisions. A measure of consumer sentiment by the University of Michigan, for example, has jumped in the past two months by the most since 1991.
There is growing optimism that the Federal Reserve is on track to deliver a rare “soft landing” — raising borrowing rates enough to cool growth, hiring and inflation yet not so much as to send the economy into a tailspin, according to wire reports. Inflation touched a four-decade high in 2022 but has since edged steadily lower without the painful layoffs that most economists had thought would be necessary to slow the acceleration of prices.
The economy’s outlook had looked far bleaker a year ago. As recently as April 2023, an economic model published by the Conference Board, a business group, had pegged the likelihood of a U.S. recession over the next 12 months at close to 99%.
