Jackson County’s workforce grew by more than 1,000 people over the past year.

That increase allowed the county to maintain its position as having one of the lowest unemployment rates in the state.

The county’s unemployment rate last month was 4.7 percent, or 0.3 percentage points lower than December 2013, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development’s monthly report.

Hamilton and Dubois counties had the state’s lowest rates in December at 4.1 percent; and Bartholomew County had the next-lowest rate at 4.3 percent, followed by Daviess County at 4.5 percent, Boone County at 4.6 percent, and Jackson, Hendricks, Kosciusko and LaGrange counties at 4.7 percent.

Jackson County’s unemployment rate fell a tenth of a percentage point from November to December.

Overall, 21,192 people reported they were working in December in Jackson County, with 1,037 unemployed and looking for work. A year ago, 20,161 people reported they were on the job, and 1,070 were unemployed.

During the same period, the number of Seymour residents reporting they were working rose by 437 to 8,922. The number of unemployed dropped from 493 to 440.

Mayor Craig Luedeman said the growth in the number of jobs in the area has been exciting to see and he hopes to see it continue into this year.

“I’m not sure we will see many new companies coming in, but I think there are some companies that may be doing some additions,” Luedeman said.

He also said it’s good to look at the unemployment rankings and see the county with one of the lower rates in the state.

The growth in the number of people working in Jackson County is mirrored in neighboring Bartholomew County, where 2,090 more people were reported on the job last month compared with December 2013. That county’s workforce grew from 39,273 to 41,363 during the same period.

The number of people working in the state grew by 103,575 to 3,063,578.

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Preliminary unemployment percentages by county, plus state and national figures:

County;Dec.;Nov;Oct.;Sept.;August;July;June;May;April;March;Feb.;Jan.

Bartholomew;4.3;4.4;4.0;3.8;4.0;4.2;4.6;4.3;3.9;4.7;5.2;5.0

Brown;5.9;5.3;4.6;4.5;5.2;4.9;5.3;5.4;5.4;7.2;8.5;8.0

Jackson;4.7;4.8;4.4;4.1;4.5;4.6;5.0;4.8;4.5;5.0;5.5;5.3

Jennings;6.6;6.2;5.6;5.4;5.8;6.1;6.4;6.2;6.4;7.3;8.2;8.0

Lawrence;7.2;6.9;6.7;6.2;7.2;7.1;7.6;7.5;7.2;8.3;10.0;9.1

Monroe;5.1;5.3;5.1;4.7;5.2;5.8;6.3;5.3;4.5;5.3;6.0;5.4

Scott;5.8;6.1;5.4;5.2;5.6;5.8;6.3;6.0;5.6;6.2;6.8;6.7

Washington;5.6;5.4;5.2;5.3;5.5;6.1;6.5;6.2;6.9;7.6;8.7;8.1

State;5.8;5.5;5.3;5.1;5.5;5.8;6.1;5.8;5.5;6.3;6.9;6.6

Nation;5.4;5.8;5.5;5.7;6.3;6.5;6.3;6.1;5.9;6.8;7.0;7.0

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