Starke County’s unemployment rate went up in December. The rate was only slightly higher at 10.7%, which is the 11th highest in the state.
Indiana’s rate was not changed from November at 9%.
Fayette County had the highest rate at 12.3% followed by Vermillion, Elkhart, Tipton, and Blackford. Dubois County had the lowest rate at 5.9% followed by Davies, Hamilton, Knox, and Switzerland.
Starke County’s unemployment figures are still in the double digits. The October figures are in and shows Starke County ranking 11th with an unemployment percentage of 10.3% That is up .2% from the September figures.
Indiana’s rate is 9.0%
Starke County’s unemployment rate stayed almost the same in September as it did in August. The rate was 10.1% vs. 10.3% in August. That placed Starke County as the 12th highest in the state.
The state rate was 8.9% vs. 9.1% for the country. Fayette County was the highest in the state with 12.0% while Elkhart was second at 11.1%.
The economy has been on everyone’s minds lately as well as unemployment. Unemployment figures have stalled in the 9-9.5% rate and Second District Democrat Representative Joe Donnelly was asked if that rate can be lowered in the next six to 12 months.
“I’m hopeful we can reduce that number,” he replied. “We have seen the numbers in our area come down from where they were a few years ago, but we have a long, long way to go. We’re going to continue to work at that everyday. The sponsor of the American Work Act are trying to get the members of Congress to sign on to that to help us create more jobs so the effort is there right now.”
Why can’t the nation’s unemployment rate improve? In July, the rate did dip slightly from 9.2% to 9.1% but the number of unemployed people is still 139,000.
One person who is encouraged is Second District Representative Joe Donnelly who sees the economy ready to take off again soon. He spoke with WKVI News about his take on the recent economy.
The unemployment report for November of 2010 shows little improvement for Indiana Counties. However, the State of Indiana’s unemployment went down.
November 30th marked the expiration of the five federally funded extensions of unemployment (EEUC and EB). Approximately 90,000 Hoosiers are currently receiving federally funded extended benefits.
Eligible individuals will receive benefits for the weeks they have remaining on their regular state Unemployment (UI) and the four federal extensions (EEUC), but will not begin the next tier of benefits after November 30th, 2010. DWD estimates about 4,000 Hoosiers per week will exhaust their benefits and thus not have a voucher to file beginning Sunday, December 5th, 2010.
The unemployment report is out for October. Starke County went down in percentage, but went up in the state ranking. Starke County went from 11.3% in September to an even 11% in October. But the County moved from the ninth highest unemployment rate in the state to seventh in October.
Pulaski County and Porter County had the lowest rates in our area. Pulaski came in at 8.0% and Porter was 7.9%. Marshall was an even 10.0%; La Porte 10.6%; Fulton 9.2%; St. Joseph 10.6% and Jasper was 8.5%. Since the January report, Starke has dropped from 13.6% for the 11.0%; Pulaski dropped from 10.1% to 8.0% and Marshall dropped from 12.4% to 10.0%.
