Unemployment down to 5.4%

The first two months of the coronavirus pandemic sent the local unemployment rate soaring.

It took just three months for it to be among the lowest in the state again.

Jay County posted an unemployment rate of 5.4% in July — tied for eighth-lowest in the state — according to estimates Indiana Department of Workforce Development released Monday.

The unemployment rate shot up to 20.2%, among the 20 highest in the state, in April at the height of the coronavirus shutdown. The rate has steadily dropped since, coming in at 14.3% in May and 9.4% in June before falling to less than 6% last month.

Jay County tied with White and Franklin counties for the eight-lowest rate in the state in July. Hamilton County was next at 5.3%.

Adams County was one of four tied for third-lowest at 5%. (It had climbed to 20.7% in April.)

Before the pandemic, unemployment in Jay County was hovering around the 3% mark.

Jay County fared far better than the state as a whole, with Indiana coming in at 7.9% in April.

Daviess County had the lowest rate among the state’s 92 counties at 4.2%.

Boone County was next at 4.9%.

Orange County posted the highest rate in the state at 14.3%. Lake (11.3%), Fayette (10.8%), LaPorte (10.5%) and St. Joseph (10.2%) were the only others above 10%.

Area rates are as follows:

Adams County: 5%, down 2.9 percentage points, t-third lowest.

Blackford County: 7.2%, down 5.9 percentage points, t-31st highest.

Delaware County: 8.2%, down 3.2 percentage points, t-14th highest.

Jay County: 5.4%, down 4 percentage points, t-eighth lowest.

Randolph County: 6.7%, down 64.3 percentage points, t-41st lowest.

Wells County: 5.9%, down 2.5 percentage points, t-17th lowest.