MUNSTER, Ind. (AP) — Steel, oil refinery and auto parts workers in northwestern Indiana are getting their first pay raises in years, and an economist says their bigger paychecks will boost the region’s economy.

Steelworkers at ArcelorMittal and U.S. Steel will receive 14 percent raises over the next four years, while workers at BP Whiting Refinery will get 11 percent raises over the next three years. Workers at Lear’s seat-making factories also secured unspecified wage increases.

Micah Pollak is an assistant professor of economics at Indiana University Northwest. He tells The (Northwest Indiana) Times that the raises will give a “shot in the arm” to the area’s economy by giving workers more money to spend at local businesses.

Pollak says the raises are one indication that the industrial sector is making a recovery.