Unemployment dips to 3.4%

Unemployment stayed below 4% for the third consecutive month.

Data that the Indiana Department of Workforce Development released last week shows Jay County had an unemployment rate of 3.4% in September.

The report, which typically would have come out in October, was delayed because of the federal government shutdown, which ran from Oct. 1 through Nov. 12. The shutdown disrupted data collection and processing at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Reports for October were canceled in some cases. The department of workforce development calendar calls for releasing its report for November on Friday.

Jay County’s rate was down by 0.5 percentage points in September. It was 0.1 percentage points higher than the same month last year.

The local rate has been below 4% for each of the last three months that data is available — 3.8% in July, 3.9% in August and 3.4% in September.

The improvement was similar throughout the region, with most counties seeing their rates drop by about one-half percent. Wells County’s rate dipped by that margin and is now the second-lowest in the state at 2.9%.

Delaware County had the worst rate in the region at 3.9%, tied for 10th-highest.

The state saw improvement in unemployment rates as well, with Indiana dipping to 3.5% from 4% in August.

Union County was the only county with an unemployment rate lower than Wells County, coming in at 2.6%.

Howard County again had the highest unemployment rate in Indiana at 5.5%. Lake County was next at 4.6%.

All but nine counties came in lower than 4%.

Area unemployment rates are as follows:

Adams County: 3.3%, down 0.2 percentage points, tied for 31st-lowest

Blackford County: 3.8%, down 1.5 percentage points, tied for 12th-highest

Delaware County: 3.9%, down 0.6 percentage points, 10th-highest

Jay County: 3.4%, down 0.5 percentage points, tied for 42nd-lowest

Randolph County: 3.5%, down 0.5 percentage points, tied for 31st-highest

Wells County: 2.9%, down 0.5 percentage points, tied for second-lowest