Jay rate was 3.3%

For each of the first two months of 2023, unemployment was above 3%.

Estimates Indiana Department of Workforce Development released Monday show Jay County’s unemployment rate for February at 3.3%.

That number is up 0.2 percentage points from January and 0.9 percentage points from February 2022.

Prior to January, local unemployment had been below 3% for 18 consecutive months. It was last above that mark when it came in at 3.3% in June 2021 and had not been above 4% since July 2020. (It had spiked to 19.9% in April 2020 at the height of the coronavirus pandemic shutdowns.)

While Jay County’s unemployment rate went up, its status as compared to other counties continued to improve slightly. It was tied for 33rd-lowest among Indiana’s 92 counties, tied with Washington, Warren, Vanderburgh, Tippecanoe, Huntington and Allen counties.

The local rate was 34th-highest in the state in October but has been improving incrementally each month since then.

The Indiana average for February was 3.5%.

Estimates also showed a slight overall labor force increase in the state, with about 23,000 more individuals seeking employment last month as compared to February 2022.

Gibson County, which tied with Boone and Hamilton counties for the lowest rate in the state in January, stood alone atop the rankings in February at 2.4%. Boone County was next at 2.5%.

Howard County recorded the highest rate in the state at 5.4%. Lake County was next at 5.3%.

Area rates are as follows:

Adams County: 2.8%, up 0.3 percentage points, tie-sixth lowest

Blackford County: 4.3%, up 0.5 percentage points, tie-13th highest

Delaware County: 4.1%, up 0.4 percentage points, tie-18th highest

Jay County: 3.3%, up 0.2 percentage points, tie-33rd lowest

Randolph County: 3.6%, up 0.1 percentage points, tie-37th highest

Wells County: 2.9%, up 0.1 percentage point, tie-ninth lowest