Unemployment goes up slightly

Jay County’s unemployment rate hit a five-year low in December. Now it has gone up in back-to-back months for the first time in more than a year.
The unemployment rate in Jay County nudged to 6.1 percent in February, up from 6 percent in January, according to labor force estimates the Indiana Department of Workforce Development released this morning.
The bump in the rate was smaller than that of the five contiguous counties, all of which saw their rates go up by at least 0.2 percentage points. Delaware and Randolph counties both saw increases of half a percentage point.
The state rate saw a jump of 0.4 percentage points.
Jay County’s unemployment rate dropped to 5.8 percent in December, the lowest mark since November 2008. It has now been below 7 percent for seven months in a row.
Indiana’s unemployment rate spiked to 6.9 percent as it also went up for the second consecutive month. An estimated 218,567 people were unemployed out of a labor force of nearly 3.2 million.
Hamilton County was the best in the state for the second consecutive month despite its unemployment rate going up 0.1 percentage points to 4.6 percent. Vermillion County had by far the worst rate, coming in at 11.1 percent, 1.1 percentage points worse than every other county in the state.
Jay County held its position as third-best in the six-county area. It trailed Adams and Wells counties, which were both at 6 percent.
Individual area unemployment rates are as follows:
Adams County: 6.0 percent, up 0.2 percentage points, t-17th lowest.
Blackford County: 7.5 percent, up 0.2 percentage points, t-33rd highest.
Delaware County: 7.8 percent, up 0.5 percentage points, t-25th highest.
Jay County: 6.1 percent, up 0.1 percentage points, t-24th lowest
Randolph County: 8.1 percent, up 0.5 percentage points, t-23rd highest.
Wells County: 6.0 percent, up 0.2 percentage points, t-17th lowest.[[In-content Ad]]