MUNCIE— It’s a good time to be a construction worker in Delaware County. Or soon will be.
With hundreds of construction jobs on several commercial projects around town in recent months, two big new projects are ready to begin.
And construction is one of the industries that’s seen an upturn in Indiana. About 2,700 construction jobs were added around the state in June. That was, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, the fourth largest increase in the U.S. last month.
Employment is up in several sectors, the state said.
Contrary to that good news, however, was that Delaware County’s unemployment rate was up in June, the latest month for which figures are available.
The county’s jobless rate in June was 7.6 percent, up from 6.9 percent in May. The new rate is better than the 9.9 percent rate in June 2013, however.
The new rate was high enough, unfortunately, to place Delaware County squarely among the 10 Indiana counties with the worst jobless picture. Delaware County ranked sixth of 92 counties for unemployment rates in June. Vermillion County continued to have the state’s highest unemployment at 8.8 percent.
Although it’s likely that some of the construction jobs on big projects like Village Promenade — the $55 million apartments and commercial space complex wrapped around a $5 million city parking garage — will migrate to other projects with the near-campus project reaching completion in August, construction work will be ongoing for weeks on projects like Muncie Marketplace, where Dick’s Sporting Goods and other retailers and restaurants are being built.