Unemployment down again

The unemployment rate continued to drop through the end of 2025.

Jay County’s unemployment rate for December came in at 2.5%, the lowest in more than two and a half years, according to estimates Indiana Department of Workforce Development released Wednesday.

The local unemployment rate went down by 0.8 percentage points last month after coming in at 3.3% in November. The last time the rate was as low was 2.5% was April 2023.

It has been below 4% since July. It has gone down in each of the last three reports after hitting 3.9% in August. There was no report in October because of the federal government shutdown.

Jay County’s rate was down by 1.2 percentage points from December 2024.

Unemployment numbers were down throughout the region, with every county adjacent to Jay seeing drops of 0.5 percentage points or more. Wells County matched Jay County for the largest decline in the region of 0.8 percentage points and was tied for the third-lowest rate in the state.

Union County continued to lead the state with the lowest unemployment rate of 1.7%. Dubois County was next at 2%.

Howard County again posted the highest rate in Indiana at 4%. Starke County (3.7%) was the only other county above 3.5%.

Area unemployment rates are as follows:

Adams County: 2.4%, down 0.7 percentage points, tied for 22nd-lowest

Blackford County: 3.1%, down 0.6 percentage points, tied for 12th-highest

Delaware County: 3%, down 0.5 percentage points, tied for 15th-highest

Grant County: 3%, down 0.6 percentage points, tied for 15th-highest

Henry County: 2.8%, down 0.6 percentage points, tied for 25th-highest

Jay County: 2.5%, down 0.8 percentage points, tied for 36th-lowest

Randolph County: 2.8%, down 0.7 percentage points, tied for 25th-highest

Wayne County: 2.7%, down 0.8 percentage points, tied for 31st-highest

Wells County: 2.1%, down 0.6 percentage points, tied for third-lowest