Jay is ranked seventh lowest

Local unemployment had already returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Now Jay County has one of the lowest rates in the state.

Coming in with 2.7% unemployment in April according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development estimates released this week, Jay County recorded the seventh-lowest unemployment rate among the state’s 92 counties.

Adams County had the lowest rate at 2.1%.

After seeing its unemployment rate climb to as high as 19.9% in April 2020 at the height of Indiana’s coronavirus pandemic shutdowns, Jay County consistently saw its numbers drop through the rest of the year. By January, the local rate had dipped back to pre-pandemic levels at 3.7%.

The county was among the top 20 for lowest unemployment rate in January (17th) and February (19th) before tying for the 29th-lowest rate in March. April was even better.

It marked the lowest for Jay County since it recorded a rate of 2.4% in September 2019. And it was surpassed only by Adams, LaGrange (2.3%), Union (2.4%), Daviess (2.5%), Boone (2.5%) and Hamilton (2.6%) counties. Wells County was right behind Jay, tied with Dubois County with a rate of 2.8%.

Indiana showed similar improvement as the statewide unemployment rate dropped to 4.2% in April, the lowest mark since before the pandemic. It had been 4.65% in March.

The highest unemployment rate in the state last month was in Lake County, which was by far the worst at 7.6%.

Howard County was next at 6.1%, LaPorte County came in at 6% and Marion?County was next at 5.3%.

Area rates are as follows:

Adams County: 2.1%, down 0.9 percentage points, lowest.

Blackford County: 4.1%, down 0.7 percentage points, t-25th highest.

Delaware County: 4.5%, down 0.4 percentage point, t-15th highest.

Jay County: 2.7%, down 1.1 percentage points, seventh lowest

Randolph County: 3.7%, down 0.8 percentage points, t-38th highest.

Wells County: 2.8%, down 0.6 percentage points, t-eighth lowest.