Unemployment rose across Northwest Indiana in October.
Lake County ranked third in joblessness statewide, the first time it dropped out of the top two spots in years. LaPorte County was fifth and Porter County 24th, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
The jobless rate rose 0.5 percentage points to 3.8% in October across the Gary metropolitan area, which encompasses Lake, Porter, Newton and Jasper counties. The unemployment rate in the Gary metro area was 3.3% the previous month and 3.7% in October 2021.
In October, Lake County had the Hoosier State’s third-highest jobless rate at 4.1%, up from 3.7% from the previous month and 4.2% during October 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 4.8%, while the largely rural east-central Fayette County inched into second place statewide.
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LaPorte County ranked fifth highest of Indiana’s 92 counties at 3.5% unemployment in October, which was up from 2.9% in September, and up from 3.4% at the same time a year ago, according to the Department of Workforce Development.
Porter County’s unemployment climbed to 3% in October, up from 2.4% in September, and from 2.6% at the same as at the same point a year earlier.
Overall, Indiana’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 3% in October, up from 2.8% in September and at the same time the previous year. The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 3.7% in October, up from 3.5% in September and down from 4.6% 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 nearly 6.6 million people around the globe. More than one out of 10 Region residents on average were out of work for months.
In October, joblessness rose all across Northwest Indiana except in East Chicago, where it stayed steady compared to the previous month. It increased by 0.7% in Crown Point, Michigan City and Valparaiso, and by 0.5% in Hammond, Merrillville and Portage.
In the Calumet Region, Gary has the highest unemployment rate at 7.1%, followed by East Chicago at 5.6% and Merrillville at 5%. Valparaiso has the lowest at 2.9%, followed by Schererville at 3.1% and Crown Point at 3.5%.
