New Albany.

• Author: Faulk, Dagney
• Position: Indiana/Kentucky economy comparison - Statistical Data Included

In the year 2000 Southern Indiana and the Louisville metropolitan area continued to experience the strong economic trends that have been occurring regionally and nationally over the past several years. The seven counties in the Louisville Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) are Clark, Floyd, Harrison and Scott in Southern Indiana and Bullit, Jefferson and Oldham in Northern Kentucky. The following analysis examines various measures of economic growth in the Louisville MSA and its component counties.

Labor Markets

As evidenced by the prevalence of `Help Wanted' advertising, labor markets are tight in Southern Indiana. Throughout 2000 the unemployment rate in the Southern Indiana counties continued to be below or even with that of Indiana as a whole and below that of Kentucky and the United States as shown in Table 1. The average annual unemployment rates for January through September 2000 indicate that the unemployment rate is hovering around 3 percent on average in each of the Southern Indiana Counties. The unemployment rate reached a new low in September 2000 as shown in Table 1. The September 2000 unemployment rates in the Kentucky counties were well below the Kentucky state average at 2.4%, 3.2%, and 2.1% in Bullit, Jefferson, and Oldham counties, respectively.

Figure 1 Unemployment Rates Comparison

1999 Annual Annual Average Average (Jan.-Sept. 2000) September 2000 Clark 2.8 3.1 2.6 Floyd 2.3 2.9 2.1 Harrison 2.6 2.9 1.7 Scott 3.1 3.2 2.2 Indiana 3.0 3.3 2.1 Kentucky 4.5 4.0 3.6 U.S. 4.2 4.1 3.8 Source: Indiana Department of Workforce Development and Kenucky Cabinet Workforce Development

Recent data for the Louisville MSA (see Table 2) indicates that the average level of nonagricultural employment increased by 11,000 from 1999 through August 2000. Manufacturing employment remained steady for Southern Indiana at 20,200 and decreased by about 1,400 jobs in the MSA. Nonmanufacturing employment decreased by about 400 jobs in the Southern Indiana and grew by 12,500 in the MSA. The MSA job growth in the nonmanufacturing sector was led by increases in the service sector, transportation, the communications and public utilities sector and the retail sector. These employment statistics represent a leveling off of employment growth for the Southern Indiana counties, resulting in part from tight labor markets.

Table 2 Nonagricultural Employment

2000 Annual 1999 Average Nonagricultural Annual (through Percent Employment Average August) Change Southern Indiana...