By DAVE SCHULTZ
The numbers, even apart from the percentages, are pretty stark.
The Indiana Department of Workforce Development, the agency tasked with calculating the state’s unemployment numbers, includes the raw data each month in its report of Indiana’s county-by-county listing of jobless rates.
Wells County’s preliminary unemployment rate for December of 2021 was a remarkably low 0.9 percent. According to the numbers provided along with that unemployment rate, the DWD says the Wells Counrty had a labor force of 14,172 in December of 2020, the number the agency uses as a “benchmark” for its calculations. Of that number, 13,725 were employed and 447 were not, leading to an umemployment rate of 3.2 percent.
Compare that to these numbers:
November 2021 — 13,980 in the work force, with 13,779 employed and 201 unemployed and an unemployment rate of 1.4 percent.
December 2021 (preliminary) — 13,951 in the work force, with 13,830 employed and 121 unemployed and an unemployment rate of 0.9 percent.
Chad Kline, Wells County’s economic development director, says the unemployment rate is one thing he watches, he also keeps a close eye on the changes in the total labor force as well.
“While we can see that in December 2021 we had 121 people on employment (collecting unemployment benefits) vs. 482 in January, the total employment numbers (those working) has not changed significantly from January to December,” Kline said. “Even looking back to January 2020, the total employment was 13,910 with 450 individuals on unemployment. So, while those seeking unemployment benefits has greatly decreased, the county has not seen the same drastic decrease in those employed.”
The Fort Wayne Metropolitan Statistical Area shows proportional numbers:
December 2020 — Labor force of 219,671, with 206,458 employed, 9,213 unemployed, and an unemployment rate of 4.3 percent.
November 2021 — Labor force of 214,064, with 209,810 employed, 4,254 unemployed, and an unemployment rate of 2 percent.
December 2021 (preliminary) — Labor force of 211,787, with 209,225 employed, 2,562 unemployed, and an unemployment rate of 1.2 percent.
Rachel Blakeman of Purdue University Fort Wayne’s Community Research Institute, compared the December numbers for all MSAs in the nation. She says Fort Wayne has the seventh-lowest unemployment rate among MSAs in the U.S., tied with the Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson MSA and the Provo-Orem MSA in Utah.
In addition, she said, the unemployment rate for the Elkhart-Goshen MSA, 0.9 percent, is the lowest in the country. The MSAs for Bloomington and Columbus, Ind., tied for second at 1 percent and the Lafayette-West Lafayette MSA was tied for the fourth lowest rate in the nation at 1.1 percent, sharing that distinction with the MSAs of Lincoln, Neb., and Logan, Utah/Idaho.
Kokomo, which has the highest metro unemployment rate in Indiana at 2.4 percent, was 81st in the U.S.
“I frequently hear people in the Fort Wayne area saying we should ‘just’ recruit workers from elsewhere to fill our open positions, but that’s a very tall task when almost 90 percent of metro areas are already at full employment,” Blakeman said. “In other words, there is not a surplus of people looking for work in most cities, thus making a move to a new location not as attractive as we might want to believe, especially if these are low-wage openings. While Fort Wayne’s unemployment rate is extremely low, we are not unique in having few available workers.”
Kline agrees with that statement.
“Recruiting workers from other areas will take not only a wage that makes sense for the applicant but a culture that they are likely seeking that is different from the job they left,” Kline said. “Workers currently have the ability to be a bit more selective in their employment needs; however, they need to be cautious that they aren’t too selective and find themselves struggling to fill a job that may no longer be available.”
Kline also said that the Wells County Economic Development Council “is currently strategizing ways we increase population to assist our area companies fulfill their workforce needs.”
daves@news-banner.com
