Indiana’s unemployment rate stands at 3.5 percent for February and remains lower than the national rate of 3.8 percent. With the exception of one month when it was equal (October 2014), Indiana’s unemployment rate now has been below the U.S. rate for more than five years. 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 improved from January when it was 4.2 to 4.0 for February. That puts the county 55th on the list of 92 counties.
Looking back, the November 2018 rate was 3.4 while December’s rate was 3.2 and the January 2019 rate was 4.2. Take a further look back, in February 2018 the county rate was 3.3 while in 2017 it was 4.1 and 2016 4.7.
Looking at the counties that surround Marshall you will see LaPorte ranked 3rd with a rate of 5.9 up from the 5.5 last month. Starke County has a February rate of 5.8, a slight increase from the 5.5 rate in January. Fulton County’s rate remained the same as January’s at 4.3 although they dropped from 36th on the list of counties to 38th. Pulaski is neck and neck with Marshall County with a rate of 4.0 and they are 56th on the list of counties. Rounding out the counties that surround Marshall you will find Elkhart with a rate of 3.4, an improvement from the January rate of 3.7 and Kosciusko who is 88th on the list of counties with a rate of 3.2 another improvement from the 3.5 in January.
Indiana’s labor force had a net increase of 7,997 over the previous month. This was a result of an increase of 1,755 unemployed residents and an increase of 6,242 employed residents. Indiana’s total labor force, which includes both Hoosiers employed and those seeking employment, stands at 3.40 million, and the state’s 65.2 percent labor force participation rate remains above the national rate of 63.2 percent.
Private sector employment has grown by 40,400 over the year and 4,400 over the previous month. The monthly increase is primarily due to gains in the Trade, Transportation and Utilities (3,300) and the Professional and Business Services (2,500) sectors. Gains were partially offset by losses in the Construction (-2,100) and the Financial Activities (-900) sectors. Total private employment reached a preliminary record highpoint of 2,747,600, which is 15,500 above the December 2018 peak. The February 2019 peak, like all data within this report, is subject to monthly revisions and annual benchmarking.
