Putnam posts middle-of-road jobless numbers for March

Friday, April 26, 2013

After kissing double-digit unemployment goodbye during February, Putnam County's jobless figures for March are about as average as a C report card, a .270 batting average and a middle-of-the-road outlook.

In numbers released by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, Putnam County came in at 9.3 percent unemployed for March, good for a tied for 47th among Indiana's 92 counties.

After posting a 9.8 percent jobless rate for February that was only a couple ticks better than the 10.0 percent produced locally for January, Putnam's ranking managed to shave that to 9.3 percent last month.

And that 9.3 percent local rate tied Putnam with Cass County in the monthly unemployment rankings.

That middling March figure puts Putnam County right in the middle of its neighbors as well as the contiguous areas were split down the middle with three performing better and three worse than the local numbers.

Hendricks, which regularly finds itself in the catbird seat of the state's top 10, was tied for sixth for March, despite an uncharacteristically high 7.2 percent.

Meanwhile, Montgomery County again posted an 8.5 percent jobless mark, tied for 22nd best, while Morgan was at 9.1 percent for the 43rd spot in the state rankings.

Owen, Parke and Clay counties all continued to dwell among the bottom 25 with Parke at 10.6 percent, tied for 17th worst for March. Owen, at 10.4 percent, was 22nd worst (70th overall), while Clay County actually rose to the 25th worst ranking at 10.3 percent.

The best jobless figure in the state for March belongs to Dubois County at 6.3 percent, followed by Hamilton at 6.4, Daviess at 6.5, Martin at 6.6, Knox at 7.1 percent, Hendricks, Bartholomew and Warrick all tied at 7.2, followed by Posey, Johnson, Jackson and Gibson all tied for 10th at 7.5.

For March, Vermillion County again finds itself at the bottom of the Hoosier rankings at 12.9 percent, followed by Fayette (12.5), Crawford (11.9), Lawrence (11.8), Starke and LaPorte (11.6), Sullivan (11.4), Vigo (11.2), Jennings (11.1) and Miami, Madison and Newton (all 11.0) rounding out the bottom 10 counties.

Indiana's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged in March at 8.7 percent, halting a recent upward trend. The Hoosier State, which has more manufacturing jobs as a part of our private sector than any other state in the U.S. (19.7 percent of Indiana's private sector), experienced another month of increase in manufacturing jobs, production hours and durable goods production employment.

Indiana witnessed the first decline in jobs in more than a year, as the state shed approximately 11,000 private sector jobs over the past month. The bulk of the loss was experienced in the Trade, Transportation and Utilities sector, which is possible evidence of some uncertainty in the market and the recent unseasonable weather.

"While March's job numbers are evidence of some uncertainty in the market and confirm there is a good deal more work to do, we cannot overstate Indiana's prominence and growing strength in manufacturing," said Scott B. Sanders, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

Sanders also noted Indiana still outpaces the national average (7.5 percent versus 5.2 percent) for private sector job growth since July 2009, the low point of employment in Indiana, and that initial claims for unemployment remain below 2005 levels.

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