Jay rate 29th highest in state

While unemployment in Jay County remains relatively low, its rate in relationship to the rest of the state continues to head in the wrong direction.
The county’s rate jumped 0.3 percentage points in October according to estimates Indiana Department of Workforce Development released Monday. That puts it in a tie for 29th highest in the state, 44 places higher than it was at the same time last year.
Jay County consistently ranked better than half of the counties in the state in terms of its unemployment rate in 2013, ’14 and the first three months of this year. As recently as October 2014 its rate was 19th lowest in the state.
But since posting the 34th-highest rate in the state in April, it has remained higher than more than half of the counties in the state. It hovered between 34th and 39th highest for a six-month stretch before climbing to 29th highest in October.
The county’s rate increase in October mirrored the state trend, and each of the other five counties in the region saw their rates climb by 0.1 to 0.6 percentage points.
Indiana’s rate went up 0.2 percentage points to 4.2 percent.
Adams County continued to perform well, ranking among the top five in the state for the second month in a row. It tied for the fifth-lowest rate at 3.3 percent after posting Indiana’s fourth-lowest rate in September.
Bartholomew County came in at 3.1 percent, Hamilton County was at 3.0 percent and Dubois County extended its state-leading streak to seven months at 2.9 percent.
Blackford County was on the opposite end of the spectrum, finishing with the fifth-highest unemployment rate in the state at 5.6 percent. Vermillion County had the highest rate in the state for the eighth month in a row at 6.4 percent.
Area unemployment rates are as follows:
Adams County: 3.3 percent, up 0.2 percentage points, t-fifth lowest.
Blackford County: 5.6 percent, up 0.6 percentage points, t-fifth highest.
Delaware County: 4.9 percent, up 0.3 percentage points, t-14th highest.
Jay County: 4.4 percent, up 0.3 percentage points, t-29th highest.
Randolph County: 4.1 percent, up 0.1 percentage points, t-42nd highest.
Wells County: 3.6 percent, up 0.3 percentage points, t-17th lowest.