INDIANA – Indiana’s unemployment rate for September 2021, which stood at 4.0% when released on Oct. 22, has since been revised downward to 3.5% by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Indiana’s labor force participation rate for September also has been revised downward by BLS, from 63.0% to 62.9%.
BLS made the revision after discovering an immediate change needed to the unemployment rate model that affected the East North Central Region, which includes Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
BLS said unemployment statistical models used to calculate labor force data have been greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Effective October 2021, BLS changed its approach to detecting and adjusting for outliers in monthly statewide data. The distortions made to January-August 2021 statewide labor force estimates will be modified during the annual benchmarking process in February 2022.
For more information from BLS, please click this link: https://www.bls.gov/lau/launews1.htm.
Links to October 2021 employment data for Indiana counties, cities and MSA’s are listed below:
Employment Report (LAUS)
Labor Force Estimates for U.S., Indiana, MSAs, Counties, Cities
Ranking of Indiana Counties by Unemployment Rate
Indiana County Map with Unemployment Rates
Jobs Report (CES)
Seasonally-Adjusted Employment Table for Indiana
Non-Seasonally-Adjusted Employment Table for Indiana
Detailed Employment Listing – Statewide & MSAs
Per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), sub-state level data are not seasonally adjusted due to sample size. For example, over the course of a year, the size of the labor force, employment and unemployment levels, and other measures of the labor market undergo fluctuations due to seasonal events including changes in weather, harvests, major holidays, and school schedules. Therefore, for more accurate comparisons, data should be compared to the same month from prior years, not the previous month, as to better account for non-economic factors.
The November 2021 Indiana Employment Report will be released on Friday, December 17, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. (Eastern), and the November 2021 Indiana County, City, and MSA Employment Report will be released on Monday, December 20, 2021, at 12:00 p.m. (Eastern).
