Unemployment in Bloomington dropped 0.7 percent from August figures , rounding out to 5 percent in September — a 1.1 percent drop from benchmark figures last September , according to data from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development .
Monroe County saw a similar trend. The county unemployment rate dropped from 5.2 percent in August to 4.7 percent in September . Neither city nor county figures are seasonally adjusted .
Indiana, as a whole, also experienced a drop in unemployment, a 0.1 percent decrease from August figures to 5.7 percent seasonally adjusted .
Figures not seasonally adjusted can be used to compare state data with city and county figures. State unemployment in September without seasonal adjustment was 5.1 percent . So while the state fared well, it did not fare as well as Bloomington or Monroe County .
Compared with the Midwest as a whole, Indiana had the second-lowest unemployment rate, falling short only to Ohio . National unemployment figures released earlier this month, seasonally adjusted, amounted to 5.9 percent. Indiana also had “sizeable gains in the manufacturing sector,” according to the Department of Workforce Development . Nearly 6,000 jobs were added to the sector, a 1.2 percent increase from ?August .
The state’s manufacturing sector has continued to grow since 2009, officials from the Department of Workforce Development said in press release .
Since then, the state has added more than 90,000 manufacturing jobs, ranking Indiana as one of best in manufacturing growth in the United States.
The only other private sector with job growth was private educational and health services with about 400 jobs .
