Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly staff report
Indiana's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 9.9 percent in December, an increase of 0.3 percent from November, according to figures released Friday by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
Among counties, Elkhart, Noble and LaGrange continued to have the state's highest unemployment rates. For December, Elkhart County's nonseasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 14.8 percent, up from 14.5 percent in November. Noble County's unemployment rate was 14.7 percent in December, an increase from 14.3 percent in November, and LaGrange County's rate was 14.1 percent, an increase from 14.1 percent.
Nonseasonally adjusted December unemployment rates for other northeast Indiana counties were: Steuben, 13 percent; Adams, 12.4 percent; DeKalb, 12.3 percent; Huntington, 12.2 percent; Wabash 11.8 percent; Kosciusko, 11.4 percent; Whitley, 11 percent; Allen, 10 percent; and Wells, 9.4 percent.
All northeast Indiana counties reported increases in their nonseasonally adjusted unemployment rates from the previous month.
For the Elkhart-Goshen metropolitan statistical area, the nonseasonally adjusted unemployment rate in December was 14.8 percent; for the Fort Wayne MSA, the rate was 10.1 percent.
In neighboring states, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for December was: Kentucky, 10.7 percent; Ohio, 10.9 percent; Illinois, 11.1 percent; and Michigan, 14.6 percent.
"Indiana and its Midwest neighbors each reported increases or remained virtually flat in December," Teresa Voors, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, said in a statement. "The two largest factors in the December Employment Report are a drop in construction employment, possibly attributed to the weather, and an increase in the number of unemployment claims following eight straight months of decline."