By DAVE SCHULTZ
Wells County had an unemployment rate of 2.8 percent in January, according to preliminary results announced this month by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
Wells’ rate is Indiana’s 14th lowest.
In an interesting turn of events, the counties of northeast Indiana — which have been listed for several months as having among the lowest unemployment rates in the state — actually had only four counties under a 3.0 jobless rate. Two northeast Indiana counties, Lagrange and Noble, had the state’s highest unemployment rates as they were tied at 5.2 percent.
Adams County had an unemployment rate of 2.5 percent, tied with two other counties for the state’s fifth lowest jobless rate. Wells (2.8) and Steuben and Whitley (each 2.9) were the other three area counties with an unemployment rate under 3.0.
Other area counties were Allen and DeKalb, each 3.0; Huntington and Jay, each 3.1; Wabash, 3.3; Grant, 3.5; and Blackford, 3.8.
Wells’ unemployment rate in January of 2022 was 3.0, indicating a 0.2 percent change from year to year.
The lowest unemployment rate in Indiana in January, according to the DWD’s preliminary listing, belonged to Boone and Hamilton, two of the “collar counties” around Indianapolis, and Gibson County in southern Indiana. All were at 2.3 percent.
The unemployment rate for the Fort Wayne metropolitan statistical area, which includes Wells, Whitley, and Allen counties, was 3.0 in January of 2023 after being listed at 3.1 in January of 2022.
The numbers for the state of Indiana were 3.4 in January of 2023, seasonally adjusted to 3.1. Those numbers in January of 2022 were 3.3 and 2.9.
Nationally, the unemployment rate was 3.9 percent in January of 2023, a number that shrinks to 3.4 when seasonally adjusted. Those numbers in January 2022 were 4.4 and 4.0 percent, respectively.
daves@news-banner.com
