Jay County unemployment matches state average

All of northeast Indiana came in below the state average. The rest of East Central Indiana was above.

Jay County sat smack dab in the middle.

The local unemployment rate matched the state average of 4.7 percent in February according to Indiana Department of Workforce development estimates released Monday.

For the first time in more than a year, Jay County’s rate was better than half of the state’s 92 counties as it came in at 42nd-lowest in Indiana. The county had been consistently better than at least half of the county’s in terms of unemployment for years before posting the 34th-highest rate in the state in May 2015. It has spent most of the last two years on the wrong side of the mid-point, climbing as high as 26th highest.

Jay County’s number, which dropped 0.2 points from January, was a full point lower than the same time last year.

State workforce development commissioner Steven J. Braun touted a labor-force growth of nearly 8,000 in Indiana, which matched Jay County with an rate of 4.7 percent.

“Gains in Indiana's labor force participation rate are encouraging and further growth is needed to ensure Indiana reaches its workforce potential as a state,” he said.

“There are thousands of good paying jobs currently available throughout Indiana. I encourage unemployed and underemployed Hoosiers to visit their local WorkOne Career Center to learn more about training programs and job opportunities in their local community."

Jay County joined its neighbors to the north in the better half of the state rankings as Adams County tied for the fifth-lowest rate at 3.6 percent and Wells tied for 11th-lowest at 3.9 percent. The only counties better than Adams were Elkhart County (3.3 percent), LaGrange and Hamilton (3.4) and Dubois (3.5).

Newton County took over the worst rate in the state at 7.5 percent. Vermillion County, which had been highest each of the previous two months, was next at 7.2 percent.

Area rates are as follows:

Adams County: 4.2 percent, up 0.2 percentage points, t-fifth lowest.

Blackford County: 7.2 percent, up 0.6 percentage points, 14th highest.

Delaware County: 6.2 percent, up 0.3 percentage points, t-23rd highest.

Jay County: 5.7 percent, up 0.6 percentage points, t-41st highest.

Randolph County: 6.2 percent, up 0.7 percentage points, t-23rd highest.

Wells County: 4.3 percent, up 0.1 percentage points, ninth lowest.