State's regional economies strong in 1999.

• Position: Brief Article

The Indiana Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) with the fastest employment growth in 1999 appears to be Muncie, Payrolls in the area expanded by 3.1 percent in the 12 months ending in November, led by a healthy 2.9 percent bounce back in manufacturing employment.

But even though Muncie's 2.3 percent unemployment rate in October was an all-time low, it has to stand in line behind six of the state's other MSAs with rates even lower. The fact that the Bloomington MSA, with a jobless rate of just 1.6 percent, would rank lowest in the state is in one sense not a surprise. Bloomington and Lafayette have traditionally had lower unemployment rates than the state. But Bloomington has received more than its share of bad economic news lately, beginning with the shutdown of the Thomson Consumer Electronics facility in the summer of 1998.

Residential construction activity gives a different ranking of economic vitality. Using data through the month of October, the MSA with the highest per capita construction activity is the state's largest MSA, Indianapolis. At 9.1 permits per 1,000 population, the nine-county Indianapolis MSA is considerably ahead of Fort Wayne, whose 6.5 permit rate puts it in second place.

Latest Previous Year Period Period Ago Employment (000) U.S. Nov. 99 129,545.0 129,311.0 126,841.0 Indiana Nov. 99 2,992.5 2,988.0 2,965.3 Manufacturing Employment (000) U.S. Nov. 99 18,350.0 18,352.0 18,639.0 Indiana Nov. 99 687.2 687.4 685.1 Non-manufacturing...