Indiana’s unemployment rate drops to 6.2 percent for September, and the national rate is 7.9 percent. 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.
Locally, Marshall County remains ranked at 55th of the 91 counties with an unemployment rate of 4.7, an improvement from the August rate of 5.3. Marshall County has the lowest unemployment rate in our area.
Looking at the counties surrounding Marshall you will find LaPorte at number 3 on the list of counties with an unemployment rate of 7.7 an improvement from 8.8 in August. Next is St. Joseph County at number 6 with a rate of 7.3 almost a full point lower than the 8.2 they had in August. Starke County also saw an improvement in their September unemployment rate. They are ranked 15th with a rate of 6.1 just over a half percent improvement from the August rate of 6.7.
Continuing to look at the counties that surround Marshall you will find while Elkhart County at 28 on the list of counties with a rate of 5.3. Their August rate was 6.1. Fulton County is listed at 35th with a rate of 5.1. Last month they had a rate of 5.7. Rounding out the list is Kosciusko County with a rate of 4.9 and a state ranking of 46th. Their August rate was 5.4 and Pulaski County also had a rate of 5.4 last month. Their September rate is 4.8 and they are ranked 52nd of the 92 counties in the state.
Indiana’s labor force had a net decrease of 19,691 over the previous month. This was a result of a decrease of 6,289 unemployed residents and a decrease of 13,402 employed residents. Indiana’s total labor force, which includes both Hoosiers employed and those seeking employment, stands at 3.33 million, and the state’s 63.0 percent labor force participation rate remains above the national rate of 61.4 percent.
Learn more about how unemployment rates are calculated here: http://www.hoosierdata.in.gov/infographics/employment-status.asp.
