Unemployment rates continue to fall.
According to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development’s September Report, Starke County unemployment fell to five percent. That’s the lowest level since September of 2007, and a 1.5-percent drop from last September.
While all 92 Indiana counties saw a drop in unemployment from last month, Ron Gifford from the Starke County Economic Development Foundation says things look especially good in Starke County, “One of the things to be noted is the fact that we’re down four full percentage points from January of this year to September, and that is a fantastic drop, and I think if you look at some of the other counties, that you’ll see that while yes, everybody is improving, I’m not sure anybody has that type of dramatic result that Starke County is showing, so it’s certainly a positive sign for the county.”
Gifford says the drop in unemployment rate is due in part to a drop in the number of people looking for work, with about 120 fewer people in the workforce in September than there were in January. But he says it can also be attributed to the number of people who’ve found work at local businesses, “I think if you just take a tour of any of the industrial parks, you’ll see signs up in several of them indicating that they’re looking for employees, and we’ve seen also some upticks in employer hiring.”
Compared to last year, September unemployment was down 1.3 percent in both Pulaski and Marshall Counties and 1.6 percent in LaPorte County.
