May 2021 Indiana Employment Report

INDIANAPOLIS (June 23, 2021) – Indiana’s unemployment rate stands at 4.0 percent for May, and the national rate is 5.8 percent. The monthly unemployment rate is a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicator that reflects the number of unemployed people seeking employment within the prior four weeks as a percentage of the labor force.

Indiana’s labor force had a net increase of 6,370 over the previous month. This was a result of an increase of 3,292 unemployed residents and an increase of 3,078 employed residents.

Indiana's total labor force, which includes both Hoosiers employed and those seeking employment, stands at 3.34 million, and the state’s 63.2 percent labor force participation rate remains above the national rate of 61.6 percent.

Learn more about how unemployment rates are calculated here.

Employment by Sector

Private sector employment has increased by 234,800 over the year and decreased by 2,700 over the previous month. The monthly decrease is primarily due to losses in the Manufacturing (-3,600) and the Trade, Transportation and Utilities (-700) sectors. Losses were offset by gains in the Leisure and Hospitality (1,900) and the Construction (400) sectors. Total private employment stands at 2,620,800, which is 119,700 below the December 2019 peak.

EDITOR’S NOTES:

Data are sourced from May Current Employment Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics – U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

May employment data for Indiana Counties, Cities and MSAs will be available Thursday, June 24, 2021, at noon (Eastern) pending U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics validation.