Indiana’s unemployment rate remained unchanged in May, holding steady at 3.6 percent.

Indiana’s rate is the same as the national average, which also held steady last month. The state’s rate hasn’t improved since 2017.

The Hoosier private sector lost jobs in May, for the second consecutive month – 1,200 positions, mostly from the leisure and hospitality and financial sectors.

And in a sign of pessimism in the economy, the state’s labor force declined last month. That measure counts not just people who have a job, but also those actively looking for one. And May breaks a labor force growth streak that had stretched back 27 months.