More than one good report in Indiana jobs news

In a week of mixed employment news -- what with 1,200 new jobs coming to the Subaru facility in Lafayette reported following Gov. Mike Pence's economic development sojourn to Japan -- seven of the eight west-central Indiana counties find themselves languishing in the bottom 10 of the state jobless rankings.

The lone county escaping that fate is indeed Putnam.

With an August jobless figure basically just a couple ticks above that of the state's 5.5 mark, Putnam County oddly finds itself near the bottom third of state unemployment rankings while possessing the best numbers within the west-central Indiana area.

At 5.7 percent unemployment for August, Putnam County ranks 57th overall -- or 35th worst if you like the old glass half-empty approach -- among the state's 92 counties.

Yet that is significantly better than the other west-central Indiana counties of Parke (6.0), Clay (6.6), Owen (6.8), Greene (7.0), Vermillion (7.1),Vigo (7.2) and Sullivan (7.4). With the exception of Parke, the rest of those west-central counties are all in the state's bottom 10 for August.

Meanwhile, among counties contiguous to Putnam's east and north, as usual Hendricks ranks the best with a 4.4 percent jobless rate, good for 10th best in the state. Morgan, at 4.8, is tied for 24th, while Montgomery is tied for 41st at 5.1 percent in the latest figures.

The top 10 Indiana jobless rates for August are Dubois (3.7), Hamilton (4.0), Bartholomew (4.0), Wells and Daviess (4.1) followed by Pulaski, Koscuisko and Boone (all 4.2), LaGrange (4.3) Hendricks (4.4) in a tie with Adams for the 10th spot.

The state's bottom 10 is topped by Lake County at 7.7 percent, followed by Fayette and Sullivan (both 7.4), Lawrence and Vigo (both 7.2), Vermillion (7.1), Greene and LaPorte (7.0), Owen (6.8) and Clay (6.6).

Meanwhile, the big jobs news is the Subaru announcement, which quite likely will be good news ultimately for Greencastle auto parts plants like Chiyoda and Heartland, which have supplied parts to Subaru of Indiana Automotive (SIA).

SIA on Monday announced plans to significantly expand its operations at Lafayette, creating up to 1,204 new jobs by 2017 with an investment of $140 million.

"Subaru chose Indiana as the home for its only assembly plant outside Japan," Gov. Pence said, "and now the company is choosing Indiana once more. Last week, executives at Subaru's parent company told us they are choosing to locate 1,200 new jobs in Indiana because of the long-term relationships we've developed and the business climate we've built, two things that we'll keep doing to make sure Indiana remains a state that works."

SIA will invest $140.2 million to increase its production capacity by nearly 100,000 units annually. The company will upgrade its existing campus and purchase new machinery and equipment in order to support the expansion and meet a growing demand for Subaru vehicles in North America.

Established in 1987, SIA is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japan-based Fuji Heavy Industries and is one of only three Subaru assembly plants worldwide. As Subaru's only production facility located outside Japan, SIA builds the Subaru Outback, Subaru Legacy and Toyota Camry.

Currently SIA employs more than 3,800 Hoosiers and produces approximately 300,000 cars annually.

The facility has built more than four million vehicles, including more than two million Subarus, since the start of production in 1989.

The company's expansion is also expected to spur growth of its direct material suppliers as well, including 28 located across Indiana, Gov. Pence noted.