Unemployment fell across much of Northwest Indiana in August but remained among the highest levels in the Hoosier State.
Lake County ranked second in joblessness statewide. LaPorte County was fifth, and Porter County 19th, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
The unemployment rate peaked at nearly 20% in Northwest Indiana in May 2020, but largely has been declining since then, hitting record lows in the Region and the state earlier this year.
The jobless rate fell 0.3 percentage points to 4.6% in August across the Gary metropolitan area, which encompasses Lake, Porter, Newton and Jasper counties. The unemployment rate in the Gary metro area was 4.9% the previous month and 4.8% in August 2021.
In August, Lake County had the Hoosier State’s second-highest jobless rate at 5.2%, down from 5.5% from the previous month and during August of 2021. Howard County, where the similarly blue-collar manufacturing town of Kokomo is located, again took the top spot in the Hoosier State with 6.9%.
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LaPorte County ranked fifth highest of Indiana’s 92 counties at 3.8% unemployment in August, which was down from 4.3% in July, and down from 4.5% at the same time a year ago, according to the Department of Workforce Development.
Porter County’s unemployment fell to 3.3% in August, down from 3.7% in July, and the same as at the same point a year earlier.
Overall, Indiana’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 2.8% in August, up from 2.6% the previous month and down from 3.4% at the same time the previous year. The U.S. unemployment rate stayed steady at 3.8% in July, down from 5.5% 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 million Americans and nearly 6.4 million people around the globe. More than one out of 10 Region residents on average were out of work for months.
In August, joblessness fell across most of Northwest Indiana. It rose in Merrillville and stated the same in Crown Point and Hobart, but fell in every other community where it’s tracked.
In the Calumet Region, Gary has the highest unemployment rate at 9.3%, followed by East Chicago at 8.1% and Merrillville at 6.6%.
