Unemployment in Bartholomew County ticked up in March but remained among the lowest in Indiana as the U.S. economy seems to be showing some signs of softening.
The jobless rate in Bartholomew County stood at 3% in March, tied for seventh lowest in the state and up from 2.6% in March 2022, according to figures released this week by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
Unemployment in Indiana was a seasonally adjusted 3.1% in March, up from 2.8% in March 2022. U.S. unemployment was a seasonally adjusted 3.5% last month, down slightly from 3.6% in March 2022.
In Jackson County, unemployment was 2.9% in March, unchanged from a year earlier, while the jobless rate in Jennings County last month was 4.2%, up from 3.7% in March 2022.
U.S. applications for jobless benefits rose to their highest level in more than a year, but remain at relatively low levels despite efforts by the Federal Reserve to cool the economy and job market in its battle against inflation, The Associated Press reported.
Jobless claims in the U.S. for the week ending April 8 rose by 11,000 to 239,000 from the previous week, according to figure from the Labor Department. That’s the most since January of 2022 when 251,000 people filed for unemployment benefits.
The four-week moving average of claims, which evens out some of the week-to-week fluctuations, rose by 2,250 to 240,000. That’s the most since November of 2021.
In Bartholomew County, 30 workers filed initial jobless claims the week ending April 15, up from 25 the week before, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. A total of 121 Bartholomew County workers were receiving jobless benefits the week ending April 8, down from 142 the week before.
Applications for unemployment benefits are broadly seen reflective of the number of layoffs in the U.S., according to wire reports.
The job market seems to be finally showing some signs of softening, more than a year after the Federal Reserve began an aggressive campaign to cool inflation by raising its benchmark borrowing rate nine times in about a year.
America’s employers added a solid 236,000 jobs in March, suggesting that the economy remains on solid footing despite the nine interest rate hikes the Federal Reserve has imposed over the past year in its drive to tame inflation, according to wire reports. The unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, just above the 53-year low of 3.4% set in January.
In its latest quarterly projections, the Fed predicts that the unemployment rate will rise to 4.5% by year’s end, a sizable increase historically associated with recessions.
Earlier this month, the Labor Department reported that U.S. job openings slipped to 9.9 million in February, the fewest since May 2021.
Some details from Friday’s Labor Department report raised the possibility that inflationary pressures might be easing and that the Fed might soon decide to pause its rate hikes, according to wire reports. Average hourly wages were up 4.2% from 12 months earlier, down sharply from a 4.6% year-over-year increase in February.
Layoffs have been mounting in the technology sector, where many companies hired aggressively during the pandemic, according to wire reports. IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, Twitter and DoorDash have all announced layoffs in recent months. Amazon and Facebook have each announced two sets of job cuts since November.
