Jay improves to 30th-lowest rate

The local unemployment rate dropped by more than half a percentage point last month.

The county’s ranking in relation to the rest of the state also saw a big improvement.

Jay County had an unemployment rate of 3.2% last month according to estimates released this week by Indiana Department of Workforce Development, tying it for the 30th-lowest rate in Indiana.

The local rate was down 0.6 percentage points from July, when it had tied for the 37th-highest unemployment rate among Indiana’s 92 counties. The county also tied for 37th-highest in June.

Jay County’s rate was 2.6% in August 2022.

Most counties in the region saw their unemployment rates drop in August, with Adams, Randolph and Delaware counties also falling by at least 0.4 percentage points. (Wells County was tied for the third-lowest rate in the state for the second month in a row.) Meanwhile, Blackford County’s rate went up by 0.1 percentage points.

The state’s rate for August came in at 3.7%.

Daviess County overtook Gibson County for the lowest rate in the state as they finished at 2.6% and 2.7%, respectively. Wells, Dubois and Clinton counties were tied for third at 2.8%.

Lake County posted the highest unemployment rate in the state at 5.9%. Fayette County and Howard County were next at 5%.

Area rates are as follows:

Adams County: 3.1%, down 0.4 percentage points, tied for 19th-lowest

Blackford County: 4.6%, up 0.1 percentage points, tied for fourth-highest

Delaware County: 4.4%, down 0.6 percentage points, tied for seventh-highest

Jay County: 3.2%, down 0.6 percentage points, tied for 30th-lowest

Randolph County: 3.4%, down 0.4 percentage points, tied for 41st-highest

Wells County: 2.8%, down 0.2 percentage points, tied for third-lowest