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TMCNet: Indiana's jobless rate rises to 6.3 percent in July

[August 18, 2008]

Indiana's jobless rate rises to 6.3 percent in July

(Indianapolis Star, The (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Aug. 16--Indiana's unemployment rate shot to 6.3 percent in July even as metropolitan Indianapolis' job surge continues to outpace reeling industrial cities elsewhere in the state, job reports released Friday show.

Burdened by Elkhart's struggling recreational-vehicle makers, the state is now at an unemployment level last seen in September 1992, when Indiana was climbing out of a recession. Indiana lost 16,500 jobs in July, the third-highest loss in the nation behind Florida and Georgia.

Economists don't say the state is in a recession now. Indiana continues to outperform the rest of the industrial Midwest. But for two straight months, the state unemployment rate has surpassed the national average, which was 5.7 percent in July.

And the hard-hit factory sector, already a political issue in the governor's race, continues to shed workers. Industrial losses combined with the aftermath of June floods and strikes have pushed up Indiana's jobless rate from an adjusted 5.9 percent in June, 5.3 percent in May and 4.4 percent a year ago in July.

Hard times are less evident in metropolitan Indianapolis, where employment has reached record levels. Employers in health, financial services and local government continue to hire.

Underscoring the trend was an announcement Friday by Charles Schwab & Co., which is expanding its Fishers customer service center and relocating it to Indianapolis in early 2010.

"This is more evidence our economic environment is helping us compete," said Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman.

Plans by the San Francisco-based financial-services company call for adding 300 more workers by 2013, with recruitment beginning late next year. The jobs would pay an average of $35,000 a year.

Schwab's local offices will be moved in 2010 to a larger, existing building in Indianapolis in the Woodfield Office Park. Schwab opened the 800-employee local office in 1990 in Fishers.

Economic incentives offered by Indiana to assist with the expansion include $375,000 in training grants and $3.45 million in total tax credits that will be given if the 300 promised jobs are created. Indianapolis also agreed to reduce property taxes for 10 years. Skillman and Mayor Greg Ballard presided over a news conference in the governor's office announcing Schwab's decision to relocate.

Delayed at a firefighter's funeral in Greenwood, Gov. Mitch Daniels was unable to reach the Statehouse in time for the news conference and didn't have time later to take questions regarding the economy, said Jane Jankowski, the governor's spokeswoman.

Jill Long Thompson, the Democratic challenger in the gubernatorial race, used the jobless rate as an occasion to lash out at Daniels' economic policies.

"Month after month, Indiana continues to lose good-paying jobs while this administration does little, if anything, to stop it," says a statement released by the candidate.

Indiana House Speaker B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, also weighed in. "The thing I think we have to do is focus on job creation and job retention," he said.

Daniels, a former Eli Lilly and Co. executive, took office in 2005 after campaigning for economic reform. Cummins, Toyota and Honda have announced major expansions since then, but the bulk of the new jobs have not appeared yet. Honda, for example, has so far hired 700 employees for the new Greensburg car plant set to have 2,000 workers when it reaches full output next year.

One of Daniels' centerpieces was the formation of the Indiana Economic Development Corp. The IEDC reports it has helped land new businesses that have created 76,000 jobs. Another 172,000 jobs have been committed by companies that have scheduled expansions over the next four years. These include 1,370 jobs announced since the end of June.

Economists were less alarmed by the July jobless rate.

"When you see that big a jump, very often it is revised the other way (later)," said economist Michael Hicks of Ball State University.

Job losses mounted, Hicks said, as the June floods in Southern Indiana forced companies to cut back. In Elkhart, RV makers have been laying off workers, and Monaco Coach Corp. plans 1,400 more layoffs in the coming weeks.

The three-month strike at American Axle also idled workers at supply plants in Indiana. Moreover, Toyota let go temporary workers at its Princeton truck complex. And a new state license test for mortgage brokers cost jobs for hundreds of them.

"It's reflecting factors that are really outside the control of the state," said Neil Pickett, senior policy director for Daniels. "It's reflecting in part more expensive oil. We're still doing significantly better than neighboring states."

Much of the better performance is a result of the economy gaining ground in metro Indianapolis.

In July, the total number of jobs filled in the area totaled 918,500 -- the most jobs ever recorded for the area in any July by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Meanwhile, 2.97 million jobs in all fields were recorded in Indiana, a decline of 16,500 jobs from the prior month as factories idled another 12,000 workers. Including July's losses, 142,400 manufacturing jobs have vanished since 2000.

"There were more seasonal layoffs in the manufacturing sector than expected, and that impacted the state's employment numbers in July," Teresa Voors, Indiana Department of Workforce Development commissioner, said in a statement. "Employment increased in the construction industry, as workers repaired homes and businesses that were damaged in the June floods."

By Ted Evanoff and Tom Spalding

To see more of The Indianapolis Star, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.IndyStar.com.

Copyright (c) 2008, The Indianapolis Star
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

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