Local Unemployment Falling

(Lawrenceburg, Ind.) – Indiana’s unemployment rate rose in October for the fifth straight month according to new monthly data from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

It now stands equal with the national rate of nine percent after the increasing slightly from 8.9 percent in September. Indiana’s rate is down from 9.7 percent recorded in October 2010.

Helping the numbers go higher was an increase by 36,000 in the labor force over the past three months, which is the largest quarterly gain since 1993.

“More people coming back to the labor force caused a slight uptick in the unemployment rate after a strong increase in employment last month,” said Mark W. Everson, Commissioner of the DWD.

Indiana and Ohio have the lowest jobless rates in the region, both at 9.0 percent, while Michigan's 10.6 percent is the highest. Kentucky was at 9.6 while Illinois checked in with 10.1 percent unemployment.

Locally, unemployment has fallen drastically from a year ago. Dearborn County saw it’s rate last month dip to 8.1 percent from 10.0 percent in October 2010.

The southeast Indiana’s region’s lowest unemployment rate was found in Switzerland County at 6.4 percent last month, down from 6.9 a year ago.

The area’s highest unemployment rate occurred in Ripley County where there was an 8.8 percent jobless rate in October. The rate is an improvement from 10.2 percent last year.

Franklin County had 7.3 percent unemployment, a decline from 9.6 percent. Ohio County’s unemployment fell to 8.0 percent from 9.4 a year ago.

The Indiana Department of Workforce Development’s October 2011 Employment Report is available at http://www.in.gov/activecalendar/EventList.aspx?view=EventDetails&eventidn=45657&information_id=91515&type=&syndicate=syndicate.