Indiana's job growth: only slightly below the U.S. average, and above most of our Midwest neighbors.

• Author: Barkey, Patrick M.
• Position: INDIANA INDICATORS

THE DEPARTMENT OF Workforce Development just made available revisions to the monthly employment and wage data for Indiana and its major cities for the last two years. Revisions put the state's job growth at a more healthy 1.3 percent over the 12-month period.

That's not exactly booming job growth, but compared to the 1.6 percent in national payrolls experienced over the same period, it's not as bad as was originally portrayed. And for most of Indiana major cities, the news is even better. Of the 14 metropolitan areas around the state tracked by DWD, only one--Kokomo--had fewer jobs in January 2006 than in the same month one year earlier.

The source of that newly found strength was diffused across different cities and different industries, but a major contribution was made by Indianapolis in general, and services employment in particular. The state's largest metro area went from virtually no job growth as reported in the preliminary data to 1.5 percent growth in the 12-month period ending in January after revision. And the biggest swing in producing that result was, as in past years, an upwardly revised 4,500 net new jobs produced by Indianapolis employers in professional business services industries.

The book on Indiana's economic performance last year will have to remain open until late this summer, when revised data for the second half of the year are expected to arrive. But the generally upward revisions to the job data for the first half of 2005 have already recast growth as only slightly below the U.S. average, and above that of most of our Midwest neighbors.

By that time we will be worried about other things, including the economic outlook for 2007. But like wine, we should let the data on state and metro area job growth age a bit before we act on what it tells us.

--Patrick M. Barkey, Bureau of Business Research, Miller College of Business, Ball State University

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LATEST PREVIOUS PERIOD PERIOD EMPLOYMENT (000) U.S. FEB. 06 134,789.0 134,546.0 INDIANA FEB. 06 2,940.4 2,923.3...