County jobless rate falls back to middle of pack

Fictionally, the Indiana town of Orson is known in TV land as “The Middle.”

Not too high, not too low. Not too hot, not too cold. Stuck in the middle with you.

And on a map occasionally shown on the ABC-TV comedy series, Orson appears somewhere in west-central Indiana. Perhaps even Putnam County.

Maybe that’s why it’s so logical that after being tied for 50th among Indiana’s 92 counties in the latest jobless statistics, Putnam County is right there in the middle third of the state rankings.

Posting an unemployment figure of 4.9 percent in the state jobless figures for February, according to the latest report from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, Putnam County has slipped back a bit again after posting two straight monthly jobless marks of 3.8 percent had produced a tie for 38th position as late as December.

Even with “Now hiring” and “Help wanted” signs dotting the Greencastle landscape, the 4.9 percent February local rate has reverted to closer to its earlier 2016 form when the county posted unemployment figures of 5.0 percent for January, 5.6 percent for February, 5.7 for March, 5.0 for April and 4.7 for June.

Experts theorize that any jobless figure below 4 percent essentially represents the chronically unemployed, basically accounting for people whose job search is quashed by transportation or child-care issues or those who know they cannot pass the necessary drug screen in order to be hired.

Meanwhile, again this month, the Putnam number is better than all other west-central Indiana counties -- Clay (5.1), Vigo (5.7), Parke (6.0), Owen (6.0), Sullivan (6.3), Greene (7.0) and Vermillion (7.2).

And with the exception of Vigo (18th worst) and Clay (29th worst), the other west-central counties all find themselves lingering in the bottom 15 of the state rankings for February. That includes Vermillion and Greene, which posted the state’s second and third worst unemployment figures at 7.2 and 7.0 percent, respectively.

Among contiguous counties north and east of Putnam, Hendricks is again the headliner with a ranking among Indiana’s best at 3.6 percent, good for a tie for fifth best in the state. Meanwhile, Montgomery County remains on the rise, climbing all the way to a tie for 11th best at 3.9. Morgan persists in the top half of the state rankings at 4.7 percent, which translates to a tie for 41st.

The top 10 Indiana county unemployment rates for February are, in order: Elkhart (3.3), LaGrange (3.4), Hamilton (3.4), Dubois (3.5), Hendricks, Kosciusko, Boone, Bartholomew and Adams (all tied at 3.6), followed by Daviess in the 10th spot at 3.8 percent.

At the opposite end of the jobless spectrum, the state’s bottom 10 is topped by Newton County at 7.5 percent, followed by Vermillion (7.2), Greene (7.0), Lake (6.7), Crawford (6.5) and Fayette and Starke (tied at 6.4). In a three-way tie for ninth are Jasper, Lawrence and Sullivan (all 6.3).

Last month the Hoosier unemployment rate ticked up by one-tenth of a percent to 4.1 percent, representing the first increase since January of last year.

The unemployment rate is a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicator that reflects the number of unemployed people as a percentage of the labor force. Indiana’s Labor Force increased by 7,912 over the previous month with a 6,394 increase in employment and a 1,518 increase in unemployment.

Indiana’s total labor force stands at over 3.32 million and the state’s 64.4 percent labor force participation rate remains above the national rate of 63.0 percent.

“Gains in Indiana’s labor force participation rate are encouraging and further growth is needed to ensure Indiana reaches its workforce potential as a state,” Steven J. Braun, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, said. “There are thousands of good paying jobs currently available throughout Indiana. I encourage unemployed and underemployed Hoosiers to visit their local WorkOne Career Center to learn more about training programs and job opportunities in their local community.”

Braun also noted private sector employment has grown by more than 33,000 over the year. He said initial unemployment insurance claims remain at the lowest point in three decades.

Indiana’s unemployment rate in February was lower than neighboring states of Kentucky (4.9 percent), Ohio (5.1 percent), Michigan (5.3 percent) and Illinois (5.4 percent).

The national unemployment rate for February was 4.7 percent.