Putnam's jobless standing takes tumble in June figures

After forging a steady climb to nearly claw its way into the top third of

Indiana's unemployment rates for May, Putnam County took a sharp fall in the latest figures released Friday.

The Indiana Department of Workforce Development reports that Putnam County posted a 9.2 percent June jobless figure, tumbling into the bottom third of the Hoosier jobless ranks.

Putnam County was tied with Orange and Washington counties for 63rd best (or 30th worst) among Indiana's 92 counties.

That still fared better than its three contiguous neighbors to the west. Owen County, at 9.7 percent, was tied for 70th overall, while Clay County was tied with Greene and Crawford counties for 15th worst at 10.0 percent and Parke County, at 10.1 percent, came in tied for 13th worst in Indiana.

Among other neighbors of Putnam County, Hendricks, a perpetual top-10 finisher was fourth overall at 6.8 percent. Morgan, at 7.9 percent, claimed the 27th spot in the state rankings in a tie with Spencer and Carroll counties.

Montgomery was in a four-way tie for June with Benton, Monroe and Huntington at 43rd with an 8.5 percent jobless rate.

For June, the best jobless figure in the state again belongs to Hamilton and Dubois counties, tied at 6.2 percent, followed by Batholomew at 6.6 percent, Hendricks at 6.8, Martin at 6.9, Daviess at 7.0, Hancock and Boone at 7.1, Johnson at 7.2 and Jackson at 7.3.

At the bottom of the Hoosier jobless rankings for June was Fountain County at 12.4 percent, followed by Sullivan at 11.9, Fayette at 11.8, Vigo at 11.2 and Lawrence at 11.0. Rounding out the bottom 10 were Grant (10.7), Delaware (10.5), and Lake and Starke (10.4).

Meanwhile, private sector employment in Indiana grew by 5,300 jobs in June, the third month in a row of significant increases.

The bulk of growth came from the manufacturing sector, which expanded by 4,300 jobs over the month, the largest one-month jump since August 2004. Indiana continues to have the largest percentage of manufacturing jobs as a portion of the private sector in the United States.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate edged up in June to 8.4 percent, though the increase was lower than most neighboring states.

"The manufacturing sector experienced the largest one-month increase in nearly a decade," Scott B. Sanders, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, said. "The majority of the growth occurred in durable goods, mainly in transportation equipment."

Sanders also noted that private sector employment for June of 2,518,600 has not been near this level since June 2008 (2,530,600), and initial claims for unemployment insurance continue to remain at their lowest levels since 2000.