Anderson forecast 2019.

• Author: Truitt, Terry C.
• Position: Statistical data

Overview

The job market is "hot" in Madison County: After persistent unemployment and a decades-old decline in the number of jobs, the economic outlook has improved in Madison County. Since 2010, Madison County has experienced an eight-year decline in the unemployment rate and a strong increase in the number of jobs. In addition, since 2010, Madison County has significantly narrowed the unemployment rate "gap" with the state of Indiana.

Jobs and the unemployment rate since 2010

Nearly a decade of job increases: After long periods of stagnate and declining employment, the number employed in Madison County showed healthy increases for the last eight years. The increase has been particularly strong over the last five years. Between 2013 and 2018, the number of employed increased from 52,653 to 58,188 as of September 2018 (see Table 1). This represents an increase of 10.5 percent for Madison County and an increase of 11.5 percent for Indiana over the last five years.

Nearly a decade of falling unemployment rates: As of September 2018, the unemployment rate for Madison County has fallen to nearly a fourth of what it was in 2010. As shown in Table 1, the unemployment rate declined from a high of 12.1 percent in 2010 down to 3.3 percent as of September 2018.

Jobs and the unemployment rate over the last year

More jobs during 2018: As indicated in Table 1, the improvement in employment numbers for Madison County was ahead of Indiana over the year from 2017 to September 2018. Over the last year, Madison County employment increased from 56,567 to 58,188, or 2.9 percent. This increase is stronger than the good numbers for the state of Indiana where employment increased by 2.5 percent. The improvement for Madison County and Indiana are also evident over the last 12 months (see Table 2). Madison County improved the number of jobs by nearly 3 percent between October 2017 and September 2018, while the state of Indiana improved by just over 2 percent.

Unemployment rate falls during 2018: The unemployment rate for Madison County continued to drop in 2018 from 3.9 percent in 2017 to 3.3 percent as of September 2018 (as indicated previously in Table 1). This change represents a 15 percent improvement in one year for Madison County, while Indiana's unemployment rate improved by 14 percent over the same period. The last 12 months support that trend. As illustrated in Table 2, over the last 12 months, the Madison County unemployment rate fell from 3.4 percent in...