Indiana’s unemployment rate stands at 3.2 percent for March and remains lower than the national rate of 4.1 percent. With the exception of one month when it was equal (October 2014), Indiana’s unemployment rate now has been below the U.S. rate for more than four years. The monthly unemployment rate is a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicator that reflects the number of unemployed people seeking employment within the prior four weeks as a percentage of the labor force.
In Marshall County the March 2018 unemployment rate was 3.1 ranking us 58th. Looking at this year so far, Marshall County has see rates of 3.3 in January and 3.5 in February.
Taking a look at the counties surrounding Marshall you will find Starke County who moved from 8th on the list to 5th with a rate of 4.7 in March, a nice decrease in the unemployment rate of 5.3 in February or the 5.1 rate in January.
Fulton County’s unemployment rate also saw a nice increase from their February rate of 4.2. They are 38th on the list of counties with a rate of 3.4.
Pulaski County saw an improvement in their unemployment rate in March with a 3.2. Their January to February rates was 3.7.
St. Joseph County’s unemployment rate had a slight decrease from their 3.8 for February with a 3.4 in March.
Elkhart and Kosciusko Counties continue to hover at the bottom of the list of counties with some of the lowest unemployment rates. Kosciusko County is 89th on the list with a rate of 2.4 a decrease of 4 tenths while Elkhart County remains 91st with a rate of 2.2 a decrease in their unemployment numbers from their February 2.4 rate.
Indiana’s labor force had a net increase of 7,513 over the previous month. This was a result of 2,077 unemployed residents no longer seeking employment within the past four weeks, and a 9,590 increase in residents employed. Indiana’s total labor force, which includes both Hoosiers employed and those seeking employment, stands at 3.32 million, and the state’s 63.8 percent labor force participation rate remains above the national rate of 62.9 percent.
