Indiana’s unemployment rate remains at 3.6 percent for April, and the national rate also stands at 3.6 percent. The monthly unemployment rate is a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicator that reflects the number of unemployed people seeking employment within the prior four weeks as a percentage of the labor force.
Marshall County’s unemployment rate has continued to see a decrease this year. In January we started out the year with a rate of 4.2. February saw a decrease to 4.0 and the March rate went down to 3.7. The April saw a major decrease to 2.8 rating us 52nd of the 92 counties.
Taking a looking back at the April rates over the past few years the 2018 rate was 2.7. Looking a couple years farther back you see a rate of 2.3 in 2017 and 4.2 in 2016.
Looking at the counties that surround Marshall you find LaPorte 8th on the lists of counties with a rate of 4.1.
Starke County is close behind LaPorte with a rate of 3.7 a huge improvement from the March rate of 5.4 and the February rate of 5.8.
Fulton County is 59th on the list of 92 counties with a rate 2.7. This is a major improvement from the March rate of 4.3 and the February rate of 4.1.
Pulaski County also saw a rate improvement in April with a rate of 3.0. Their March rate was 3.6 and their rate of 4.0 in February.
Rounding out the counties that surround Marshall you will find Elkhart County at 65th on the list of counties with a rate of 2.6 an improvement from the 3.2 rate in March. Their February rate was 3.4 and the January rate of 3.7.
Kosciusko County is near the bottom of the list of counties with a rate of 2.3 ranking them 87th. In March they were 85th with a rate of 3.0. In February they were 88th on the list of counties with a rate of 3.2 and their January rate was 3.5.
Indiana’s labor force had a net increase of 1,349 over the previous month. This was a result of an increase of 29 unemployed residents and an increase of 1,320 employed residents. Indiana’s total labor force, which includes both Hoosiers employed and those seeking employment, stands at 3.41 million, and the state’s 65.3 percent labor force participation rate remains above the national rate of 62.8 percent.
Private sector employment has grown by 36,700 over the year and decreased by 3,600 over the previous month. The monthly decrease is primarily due to losses in the Financial Activities (-600) and the Manufacturing (-400) sectors. Losses were partially offset by gains in the Leisure and Hospitality (1,600) and the Construction (1,100) sectors. Total private employment stands at 2,743,500, which is 11,400 above the December 2018 peak.
