New Albany.

• Author: Faulk, Dagney

During 2003, the economy of southern Indiana continued to perform better than state and national economic trends. The New Albany area actually experienced a net job gain over the past year, as the unemployment rate has begun to decrease. The seven counties in the Louisville Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) are Clark, Floyd, Harrison, and Scott counties in southern Indiana and Bullitt, Jefferson, and Oldham counties in northern Kentucky. In 2003, the U.S. Census Bureau redefined the counties in the Louisville metropolitan area to include Clark, Floyd, Harrison, and Washington counties in southern Indiana and Bullitt, Henry, Jefferson, Meade, Nelson, Oldham, Shelby, Spencer, and Trimble counties in Kentucky (see Figure 1). Since most of the metro area statistics do not yet use the new definition, the following analysis uses the 1999 MSA configuration to examine various measures of economic growth in the Louisville MSA and its component counties. Three additional Indiana counties--Crawford, Jefferson, and Orange--in the southern Indiana labor market area are included when data is available.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

Labor Markets

The 2003 unemployment rate in the counties of the Louisville area have continued to decline over the year, and with the exceptions of Washington and Orange counties, the unemployment rate continues to be below that of Indiana as a whole and below that of Kentucky and the United States, as shown in Table 1. The total number employed has steadily increased over the course of the year. The unemployment rates in Clark and Floyd counties are currently among the lowest in the state while the unemployment rate in Orange County is among the highest in the state.

Recent data for the Louisville MSA indicates that the average level of nonagricultural employment was 568,100 for January to September 2003, an increase of just over 1,000 jobs from the same period last year (see Table 2). The Indiana portion of the MSA contributed just over 600 jobs to this increase. Total nonagricultural employment in the southern Indiana counties averaged 95,300 well below the May 2001 peak of 98,200 jobs. Contrary to the state and national situation, employment growth in southern Indiana was actually led by manufacturing, which increased by an average of 1,300 jobs. The service sector was hit hard over the past year, decreasing by an average of 1,200 jobs. The decrease in service employment was led by professional and business services, followed by trade, transportation and utilities, both decreasing by over 800 jobs.

The average level of government employment increased approximately 700 jobs over this same time period. The increase is attributable...