Despite the continuing economic challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of Carmel continued to show progress in its unemployment rate, which has decreased for the fifth consecutive month – coming in at 3.6 percent for the month of November, down from 4 percent in October.
The new number was released today by the State of Indiana’s Department of Workforce Development. Indiana’s overall November unemployment rate is 4.9 percent and the U.S. rate is 6.4 percent.
“This is good news for our local economy and it shows that we are doing a good job of weathering this pandemic storm as a community,” said Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard. “I encourage all of our residents to continue to support our local businesses through the rest of the holiday season and even more so as we move into the new year.”
Like the rest of the nation, Carmel’s unemployment rate skyrocketed in April to 8.8 percent after starting the year 2020 with a January rate of just 2.7 percent. The spring increase was largely due to the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on the economy, which included the closure of many local businesses resulting in the loss of thousands of jobs across the city and state. After remaining high for four months, the rate finally dropped below 5 percent as the economy began to rebound in the summer.
Meanwhile, business in Carmel continued to expand with the news that a New York-based firm, Simplifeye, was moving its corporate headquarters to Main Street in Carmel, a local private investment firm announced plans to join them in the same building at Main & Monon, Braunability broke ground on its new research building on Carmel Drive and the Hotel Carmichael opened its doors.
Brainard
“In our economic development strategy, we have made a point to not focus on just one aspect of the economy, but to eagerly work to attract diversity in corporate and other jobs so that we are better situated to survive economic downturns, like we have in the past,” Brainard said. “I see today’s strong unemployment report to be a positive sign that we are ready to continue our growth in 2021.”
You can access more data from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development which posts data online.