Jay unemployment is 3.2 percent

Unemployment ticked up a bit last month, but remains well below the 4-percent mark.

Jay County’s unemployment rate came in at 3.2 percent in May according to estimates released Monday by Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

The rate marked an increase of 0.3 percentage points from April, when Jay County’s rate was at its lowest point since 2000. But it was also the ninth consecutive month that the local rate came in below 4 percent. The rate is up 0.1 percentage points from the same month last year.

Jay County’s rate matched that of the state as a whole for the second consecutive month. Indiana has come in at 3.7 percent or lower in each of the first five months of 2018 and has been below 4 percent since March 2017.

LaGrange County stood alone last month with the lowest unemployment rate in the state at 2.3 percent. Elkhart and Dubois counties, which were tied with LaGrange atop the list last month, were next at 2.4 percent.

Vermillion County again had the state’s highest rate of unemployment at 4.6 percent. Fayette and Lake counties each came in at 4.5 percent.

Area unemployment rates are as follows:

Adams County: 2.5 percent, up 0.3 percentage points, tie-fourth lowest.

Blackford County: 3.5 percent, up 0.1 percentage points, tie-23rd highest.

Delaware County: 3.8 percent, up 0.5 percentage points, tie-10th highest.

Jay County: 3.2 percent, up 0.3 percentage points, tie-41st highest.

Randolph County: 3.5 percent, no change, tie-23rd highest.

Wells County: 2.6 percent, up 0.2 percentage points, tie-seventh lowest.