Rate highest since 2020

Unemployment shot up again last month.

Jay County’s unemployment rate went up by 0.6 percentage points in June according to estimates the Indiana Department of Workforce Development released Monday.

The local unemployment rate came in at 4.5%, tied with Clay, Elkhart, Kosciusko, Madison and Wabash counties.

The mark was up just over half a percentage point from the previous month and 1.4 percentage points from June 2023.

The local rate has been on a roller coaster this year, climbing to 4.1% in February and then trending back toward 3% over the next two months before climbing again in May and June. The 4.5% mark is the highest for the county since the 2020 spike related to coronavirus pandemic shutdowns.

Unemployment has been gradually trending upward in Indiana and nationwide. In Jay county, unemployment ranges since the coronavirus pandemic hit are as follows:

•2020 — Peaked at 19.6% in April before falling to 3.1% in December

•2021 — Between 2% and 3.8%

•2022 — Between 2.2% and 3.1%

•2023 — Between 2.6% and 3.5%

•2024 (so far) — Between 3.2% and 4.5%

Unemployment was up throughout the region in June, with Adams County (a percentage-point increase) and Delaware County (a 0.8-percentage-point increase) hit the hardest.

Indiana’s rate climbed by 0.4 percentage points in June to 4.4%. The rate was 3.5% in June 2023.

Gibson County had the lowest unemployment rate in the state for the fifth month in a row, tying Daviess County at 3.4%. Seven counties were tied at 3.5%.

Fayette County posted the highest unemployment rate in Indiana, climbing to 6.2%. Howard and Lake counties were next at 6% and 5.9%, respectively. Eleven of the 92 counties had rates of 5% or higher.

Adams County: 4%, up 1 percentage point, tied for 35th-lowest

Blackford County: 5%, up 0.4 percentage points, tied for ninth-highest

Delaware County: 5.5%, up 0.8 percentage points, fifth-highest

Jay County: 4.5%, up 0.6 percentage points, tied for 29th-highest

Randolph County: 4.6%, up 0.2 percentage points, tied for 23rd-highest

Wells County: 3.6%, up 0.3 percentage points, tied for 10th-lowest