Indiana’s labor force will reach a record 3.4 million people by next year’s end, Indiana University researchers project, but the state still faces challenges in increasing its ranks of college-educated workers.
The Indiana Business Research Center , run by Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, Wednesday shared its annual predictions about the state’s economy for 2025.
Employment rates and incomes in Indiana are expected to grow modestly in 2025, at rates below the United States average. While Indiana’s unemployment rate will rise slightly next year from the current rate of around 4.3%, researchers say, the rate is projected to stay below 5%.
Nationwide, the researchers forecast that core inflation, which best tracks the long-run trend in price levels, will continue to ease to nearly 2.3% in 2025. That measure reached a three-year low of 3.2% in September.
Here are three key takeaways from the data for central Indiana:
Indy metro area leads way in growth
As it did this year, the 11-county Indianapolis metropolitan area is forecast in 2025 to outpace the state’s percentage growth in real domestic product — the value of goods and services produced in Indiana.