Region employment working to catch up with nation's strong 2012 start

The surge in January employment at the national level may provide some hope that Indiana's jobless picture may improve early in 2012.

But people watching the local labor market say it's difficult to make growth projections in Northwest Indiana because 2011 featured both sobering and encouraging trends. 

The U.S. jobless rate fell for the fifth consecutive month to 8.3 percent in January, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday.

The unemployment rate in Lake, Porter, Newton and Jasper counties has been stubborn to drop and stood at 9.1 percent in December, which is the most recent data available not adjusted for seasonal swings in employment. The local rate is down from December 2010 when it was 9.4 percent, but still above the 8.4 percent reached in April. 

Although the December unemployment rate wasn't far from where it was a year earlier, Indiana University Northwest associate economics professor Don Coffin said the region's labor force and employment has grown a "more rapid pace" than the nation over that period of time.

"Just on that basis, you would have to say Northwest Indiana unusually looks not too bad," Coffin said.

Coffin said in the past 25 years, he has found that employment growth in Northwest Indiana typically doesn't happen as fast as it does in the state and nation. He also expects 2012 to show little to no payroll employment growth in the region.

More than 295,000 residents in the four counties said they had jobs in December compared with a year earlier, which is a gain of about 6,000, according to estimates from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. However, nonfarm payroll employment in the four-county area fell by 500, or 0.2 percent, compared to a year ago.

Coffin said one reason for the difference is that more people in Northwest Indiana could be looking for and getting jobs in places such as Chicago. The Chicago area, which includes nine northeast Illinois counties, Wisconsin's Kenosha County and the four Northwest Indiana counties, reported a 15.7 percent rise in nonfarm payroll jobs between December 2010 and December 2011.

Linda Woloshansky, president and CEO of the Center of Workforce Innovations, said the smaller payroll number also could mean more people are operating home-based businesses such as consulting firms. 

Mark Maassel, Northwest Indiana Forum president and CEO, said even if jobs are being created outside of Northwest Indiana, the region still benefits if residents spend their earnings locally and pay taxes.

"The mere fact someone would be going to Chicago to work isn't problematic," Maassel said. "It's a choice that Americans can and do make."

Some believe it could be a concern. Anthony Sindone, a continuing lecturer of economics at Purdue University North Central, said it's important for leaders to come together and figure out how to make the area more attractive and improve wages.

The Center of Workforce Innovations said one employment measure it tracks shows that employers continue to have interest in Northwest Indiana.

Postings for job openings on a state database totaled 11,233 in 2011, which was more than double what was expected.

"The market got better last year," Woloshansky said. "(There was) a little more confidence on behalf of the job seekers."