Indiana's unemployment rate fell again to a new record low of 2.3% in February, down from 2.4% in January, which had been the lowest rate in the state since at least 1976.
The February rate was the lowest in Indiana history since the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics started measuring the jobless rate in the current manner. Indiana's jobless rate has fallen or remained the same every month since May 2020, when joblessness first started to decline after a huge spike at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
The national jobless rate was 3.8% in February, down from 4% in December.
“This is positive news for the state of Indiana,” Indiana Department of Workforce Development Commissioner Fred Payne said. “Unemployment fell again while private employment and labor force participation numbers both increased — a winning combination. Now we need to sustain that success long-term.”
People are also reading…
Indiana's labor force is the total number of people working and actively seeking work as extrapolated from a phone survey. According to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, a total of 3.24 million Hoosiers were working in February while 18,500 were unemployed, actively seeking work and available to work now.
Contrary to popular belief, the unemployment rate is not tied to the number of people receiving unemployment benefits, who totaled 22,901 in February.
There were 3.31 million Hoosiers — or about 62.1% — participating in the labor force in February, as compared to 61.9% in January and 62.3% of people nationwide, according to the DWD. There are 2.743 million Hoosiers now working in the private sector, a preliminary new peak in the Hoosier State.
Private-sector employment in Indiana has risen by 101,500 year-over-year and 10,800 jobs in February. Last month, the Hoosier state gained 5,400 jobs in professional and business services, 2,900 in trade, transportation and utilities, 1,500 in financial activities and 1,200 in construction.
Indiana currently has an estimated 152,390 open job postings around the state.
“With so many opportunities available, it’s a great time for those seeking to return to the workforce, or those who are already employed and desire a change, to find stable work and good wages and learn new skills,” Payne continued.
In Illinois, unemployment fell from 5% in January to 4.8% in February.
Illinois gained 19,600 jobs in February, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security. Last month, the state added 8,300 jobs in trade, transportation and utilities, 4,800 in manufacturing, 4,800 in leisure and hospitality and 4,300 in educational and health services. Professional and business services lost 3,400 jobs while the financial activities sector lost another 400 in February.
Illinois's unemployment rate was one percentage point higher than the national average and down 2.1 percentage points from a year ago.
NWI Business Ins and Outs: Olive Garden, Anytime Fitness, I Dig Dinos opening; Easter Bunny coming to Southlake Mall
Coming soon
Exterior construction is largely complete on the new Highland Olive Garden, which is tentatively slated to open on May 9.
Olive Garden took over the former Old Country Buffet at 10445 Indianapolis Boulevard in the Highland Grove Shopping Center. The Orlando-based chain of sit-down Italian restaurants has been renovating the 10,179-square-foot restaurant for months.
Highland Building Commissioner Ken Mika said the construction cost an estimated $1.8 million and that materials shortages have delayed the project.
Delays
Olive Garden was originally eyeing a new location in Schererville's new Oak District, where Chick-fil-A and LongHorn Steakhouse just opened, but opted for Highland a few miles north to more easily obtain a three-way liquor license, typically crucial to a restaurant's profitability.
The chain is known for its pasta, breadsticks, wine and unlimited soup and salad lunch specials.
Owned by Darden Restaurants, Olive Garden has 900 restaurants around the globe, including in Lansing, Michigan City and Hobart at the Southlake Mall.
Relocating
Anytime Fitness is moving across the street to a much larger 7,400-square-foot location in Winfield that will offer more coaching.
The 24/7 gym chain has been constructing a new two-story gym at the site of the old Evolution Fitness at 7954 E. 108th Ave. for the last seven months. The new gym will feature a 1,080-square-foot purple turf area with state-of-the-art functional training equipment people can work out on in both team training and personalized one-on-one sessions.
At the new location, Anytime Fitness will offer a wide area of team training sessions with MyZone heart rate monitors that track heart rate and calories burned during the workout.
New location
At the new location, Anytime Fitness will offer a wide area of team training sessions with MyZone heart rate monitors that track heart rate and calories burned during the workout.
The Anytime Fitness is owned by Muayad and Vicki Musleh, who have opened nine clubs in Indiana and two in Illinois. The second floor of the new Anytime Fitness will serve as the corporate headquarters for their business, which has 13,000 members.
They also own the Anytime Fitness locations in Dyer, Schererville, Lowell, Crown Point, Cedar Lake and Hobart. The Winfield Anytime Fitness has repeatedly been voted The Times of Northwest Indiana's Best of the Region.
Opens April 18
Regional Coach Eric White said the brand-new gym is slated to open on April 18.
"It's right across the street from the current location," he said. "It may be Winfield's tallest building. It will be a new coaching club design. It's the only Anytime of its kind. There's no guarantee other new ones will be built this way, but the franchise owner is committed to this new model here."
'A lot of cool stuff'
The fitness club will feature equipment like TRX Suspension Trainers, air bikes, row machines, weights, kettlebells, tire flips and sleds.
"There's a lot of cool stuff coming coaches can train the members how to use," he said. "The new MyZone technology shows you on the screen how hard you're working during your workout."
Members can work out on their own at all hours or sign up for more than 40 team training sessions from Monday through Sunday. Scheduled throughout the day during the week and in the mornings on the weekends, they range from cardio sessions meant to burn calories to weight training sessions meant to build muscle.
Both gym use and coaching
Between five and 20 people typically work out with a coach each session.
"The goal is to hook people up with a trainer so they're not just signing up for a gym membership. They're getting the education, learning how to use the new stuff out there, and have the benefit of accountability during their workouts," White said. "But what separates us from the F45s, Orange Theories and UFC facilities is we have both gym use and coaching. Clients get the best of both worlds."
'Our job is to change their life'
Coaching is a big trend in the fitness industry, from Peleton stationary bikes to many of new fitness club concepts opening up.
"We take pride in knowing members by name," he said. "I feel our job is to change their life. We're there to help them achieve the results they're looking for."
Open
A new interactive and immersive dinosaur, toy and fossil store has brought the Mesozoic era to downtown Griffith.
I Dig Dinos opened Friday in the former An-Dee's Floral space at Main and Broad streets in downtown Griffith. It was most recently occupied by the Power Up Fitness and Training gym.
The space at 100 S. Broad has been transformed into something out of "Jurassic Park." It's filled with model dinosaurs, including a huge animatronic Utahraptor in the front window that kids can ride.
Dinosaur attraction
Business partners Kevin Pete (full disclosure: my younger brother) and Ruben Luna opened the dinosaur attraction, which sells dinosaur products like fossils, collector rocks, space rocks, meteorites, gems, jewelry, toys, figures, figurines, stuffed animals, candy, and graphic novels about dinosaurs, sharks and whales.
There's an explorer section with hardhats, binoculars, magnifying glasses and other archeological tools. It also carries 4D dinosaurs that can be snapped together, dinosaurs that grow when submerged in water, puzzles and science kits with DIY volcanos and tornados.
"It's the kind of things you'd find in a museum gift shop, just way more elaborate," Pete said.
Play paleontologist
I Dig Dinos offers many activities for kids, including a fossil dig, geode-cracking and gold panning to find gems. The hands-on experiences give kids a chance to play paleontologist.
"It's interactive fossil mining where they can fill a bag for $5," he said. "They pick and choose what to take home. It's not a perfectly articulated skeleton like in a kid's museum but it's how it plays out in real life."
The store is decorated with about 30 dinosaur head mounts and another 30 full-size dinosaur models. It plans to add 40 more in the coming months.
'Immersive experience'
Visitors will be able to see dinosaurs like a T-Rex, Triceratops, Utahraptor and Brachiosaurus, as well wooly mammoths and sabertooth cats.
"It will be a fully immersive experience," he said. "Dinosaur lovers will feel like they've traveled back in time to the Mesozoic. If you have young kids it can be challenging to drag them to the zoo or a museum in Chicago. This is something quicker you can do on a Saturday or Sunday working around their nap schedule. It's a perfect escape and family-oriented activity. It's more intimate, more hands-on museum-like experience."
It caters both toward kids and serious fossil collectors, offering everything from 50-cent fossils for children to more high-end collectibles like dinosaur skulls.
Edutainment
"If you have a kid that loves dinosaurs or earth sciences, it offers experiences no other store in the area has," he said. "It's edutainment that educates and entertains."
I Dig Dinos is initially open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday but plans to expand its hours.
For more information, call 219-595-5498, email idigdinosnwi@gmail.com or find the business on Facebook or Instagram.
Coming
The Easter Bunny is hopping back to the Southlake Mall in Hobart next month.
Kids can pose for photos with the Easter Bunny from April 2 through April 16. Peter Cottontail will be set up at the lower level for family photo ops from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
The Easter Bunny will pose with pets from 4 to 7 p.m. on Monday, April 4 and stage a sensory-friendly photo experience from 10 to 11 a.m. on Sunday, April 10.
People can book reservations at amusemattebookbunny.com/southlake-mall/.
Sold
The professional office building at 7781 E. Ridge Road in Hobart was sold to a new owner, a local investor. The 5,288-square-foot building is home to two professional service firms and a medical office.
Crown Point-based Latitude Commercial represented the owners in the sale for $535,000.
“This is a brick building directly across the street from Strack's in Hobart. In my opinion, this building is one of the higher-end properties in the area and I felt confident representing it," Director of Office Group Antony Miocic said. "Our three tenants were all credit-worthy as well.”
If you would like your business to be included in a future column, email joseph.pete@nwi.com.
WATCH NOW: Riding Shotgun with NWI Cops — Patrolling Lowell with Cpl. Aaron Crawford
NWI Business Ins and Outs: St. John Planet Fitness, Buzzin Barbecue and Edgewater Health opening, Whiting Cafe and Anna's Kombucha closing
