Dip In Indiana Jobless Rate Not Expected To Last

DEANNA MARTIN

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana's unemployment rate dropped slightly to 9.9 percent in April, but analysts don't expect the glimmer of good news to last long.

Preliminary figures released Friday show the state's unemployment rate fell from the 10 percent seasonally adjusted rate reported for March. Indiana's unemployment rate showed a similar small drop around this time last year, when the rate went from 5.4 percent in April 2008 to 5.3 percent in May 2008 before climbing toward the highest rates since the recession of the early 1980s.

April's decline in the state's jobless rate was so small that it is not statistically significant, said Teresa Voors, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. She warned that the figure doesn't reflect auto and steel industry layoffs announced in recent weeks.

"I expect we will see the effect of the automotive decline on Indiana's unemployment rate to a greater extent in the next few months," she said.

Recent layoff announcements could cost thousands of Indiana workers their jobs — and not just from plant shutdowns by General Motors and Chrysler.