Photo: Dan Goldblatt/WFIU News
Manufacturing jobs were up, though the transportation industry saw a loss of jobs last month.
Indiana’s unemployment rate rose to 8.5 percent in July, up two-tenths of a percent from June. But Ball State economics professor Michael Hicks says it’s not time to panic.
“I think we’re really skidding along in a flat-line condition right now,” he said, “and not really at the precipice of a recession quite yet.”
The national unemployment rate fell one-tenth of a percent last month, though Indiana’s rate remains lower. Still, Hicks says Indiana needs to worry about the national economy’s effect on its job numbers.
“Ultimately,” he said, “if the national economy doesn’t get better, the softness is going to leak into us and I think the first place we’ll start to see that is going to be in manufacturing and transportation.”
Hoosier manufacturing jobs increased in July while transportation job numbers fell.
