Putnam jobless rate recovers, now 35th best in Indiana

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

After several months of languishing in the middle of the pack, the Putnam County jobless rate has posted its best figure in recent years, climbing to 35th best with a 3.3 percent unemployment rate for September.

That’s according to the latest jobless figures released by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. The overall Indiana jobless rate for September was listed at 3.6 percent.

Greencastle’s recovery should come as no surprise. At a recent meeting, one City Council member said, “We’ve got jobs coming out our ears,” noting the irony of how the city was once in desperate need of jobs and is now in need of people to fill them. So much so that some of the local factories have even bused in workers from other areas to keep their shifts fully staffed.

In town, help wanted signs are everywhere -- from Asbury Towers on the West Side to Chiyoda on the East Side.

The 3.3 percent Putnam County figure was better than all contiguous counties with the exception of Hendricks, which was at 3.0 for September, tied for 13th best among Indiana’s 92 counties, and Montgomery which posted a 3.1 percent mark, good for a tie for 23rd.

Other adjacent counties didn’t fare as well with Morgan at 3.4 percent for 41st overall; Clay at 3.7 percent, tied for 54th best; Parke at 4.1 percent for a tie for 74th position; and Owen County at 4.2 percent, which figures to a tie for 79th place overall.

The top 10 Hoosier jobless rates for September belong to: Elkhart, 2.5; LaGrange and Dubois, 2.6; Kosciusko, Decatur, Bartholomew and Adams, 2.7; Steuben, Hamilton and Davies, 2.8.

At the opposite end of the unemployment spectrum, posting the worst Indiana jobless rates for September were: Vermillion, 5.5 percent; Lake, 5.3; Fayette, 5.0; Newton, 4.8; Greene, 4.6; Huntington, 4.5; Delaware, LaPorte, Lawrence and Starke, 4.3.

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