Unemployment rose across Northwest Indiana in August as Lake County continued to have the highest employment rate statewide.
LaPorte County ranked ninth in joblessness statewide, Starke County 10th and Porter County 13th in August, the most recent month for which data is available, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
The jobless rate held steady at 5.3% in August across the Gary metropolitan area, which encompasses Lake, Porter, Newton and Jasper counties, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, and the unemployment rate in the Gary metro area was 4.5% in August 2022.
In August, Lake County had the Hoosier State’s highest jobless rate at 5.9%, up from 5.8% from the previous month and up from 5% in August 2022.
LaPorte County ranked ninth highest of Indiana’s 92 counties at 4.4% unemployment in August, which was down from 4.5% in July and up from 3.9% at the same time a year ago, according to the Department of Workforce Development.
People are also reading…
Porter County’s unemployment rate held steady at 4.2% in August, up from 3.5% at the same as at the same point a year earlier.
Overall, Indiana’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 3.4% in August, up from 3.3% the previous month and up from 3.1% at the same time the previous year.
The nation’s unemployment rate rose to 3.8% in August, down from 3.5% in July and up from 3.7% at the same point a year earlier, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Unemployment climbed as high as 12% in Northwest Indiana during the depths of the Great Recession in the late 2000s, but it had been significantly higher in Northwest Indiana during the pandemic following stay-at-home orders meant to stop the spread of a virus that has killed more than 1.1 million Americans and more than 6.8 million people around the globe. More than one out of 10 Region residents on average were out of work for months.
In August, joblessness rose in Crown Point, Gary, Hobart and Schererville. It fell in East Chicago, Hammond, Michigan City, Portage and Valparaiso and remained unchanged in Merrillville.
In the Calumet Region, Gary has the highest unemployment rate at 10.7%, followed by East Chicago at 7.8%, Merrillville at 6.4% and Hammond at 6%. Valparaiso has the lowest jobless rate at 3.5%, followed by Schererville at 4.7% and Crown Point at 4.9%.
