Unemployment rate dips to 3.3%

Most counties in Indiana saw significant increases to their unemployment rates in May.

While the state rate went up in June, unemployment ticked down locally.

Indiana Department of Workforce Development estimates released this week show Jay County had an unemployment rate of 3.3% in June.

The rate was down slightly — 0.1 percentage points — from May. That was good enough to put the county in a tie for the 37th-lowest rate among Indiana’s 92 counties.

The unemployment rate in June 2022 was 2.9%.

Jay County’s unemployment rate has now been 4% or below for three full years. (It had spiked to 19.9% in April 2020 at the height of the coronavirus pandemic shutdowns.)

Unemployment trends were a mixed bag in the region and statewide last month, as four area counties — Adams, Blackford, Jay and Randolph — saw their rates go down while Delaware County had an increase of 0.3 percentage points and Wells County saw no change. Indiana’s rate went up 0.2 percentage points to 3.7%.

Gibson County again was best on the list, this time tying with Daviess County for the lowest unemployment rate in the state at 2.6%. Dubois and Boone counties followed at 2.8%, with Wells, Adams, Steuben, Shelby, Post, Johnson, Hamilton, Decatur and Benton counties all coming in at 2.9%.

Lake County posted the highest unemployment rate in the state at 5.8%. Howard County followed at 5.5%.

Area rates are as follows:

•Adams County: 2.9%, down 0.1 percentage points, tied for fifth-lowest

•Blackford County: 4.3%, down 0.2 percentage points, tied for seventh-highest 

•Delaware County: 4.5%, up 0.3 percentage points, fourth-highest 

•Jay County: 3.3%, down 0.1 percentage points, tied for 37th-lowest

•Randolph County: 3.2%, down 0.3 percentage points, tied for 29th-lowest

•Wells County: 2.9%, no change, tied for fifth-lowest