Rate comes in at 3.9%

Unemployment stayed below 4% for the second month in a row.

Estimates from Indiana Department of Workforce Development show Jay County had an unemployment rate of 3.9% in October, up just a tick from the previous month.

The local unemployment rate went up 0.1 percentage points from September and was up a full percentage point from October 2023.

The rate has rebounded from the summer, when it was above 4% in June, July and August. It had been 3.5% or lower throughout 2023. There has been a general upward trend this year, with July’s rate of 4.7% the highest since the spike during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic shutdown.

Unemployment stayed about the same throughout the region, with some counties slightly up and some slightly down. Randolph County had the largest decrease in the area at 0.3 percentage points while Blackford County’s rate went up 0.2 percentage points.

Statewide, unemployment dropped by 0.3 percentage points last month to 4%. That’s up 0.9 percentage points from October 2023.

Howard County had by far the highest unemployment rate in the state for October as it came in at 8.7%.

No other county was above 6%, as Miami (5.9%) and Fayette (5.8%) posted the next highest rates. Blackford County was fifth highest at 5.3%.

Gibson and Daviess counties recorded the lowest unemployment rates in Indiana for October at 3%. Martin, Hamilton and Boone counties were next at 3.1%.

Area unemployment rates are as follows:

Adams County: 3.5%, down 0.1 percentage point, tied for 21st-lowest

Blackford County: 5.3%, up 0.2 percentage points, tied for fifth-highest

Delaware County: 4.5%, down 0.1 percentage points, 13th-highest

Jay County: 3.9%, up 0.1 percentage points, tied for 38th-highest

Randolph County: 4%, down 0.3 percentage points, tied for 30th-highest

Wells County: 3.4%, down 0.1 percentage points, tied for 15th-lowest