A month after Jackson County’s unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in nearly eight years, May saw a slight increase.

Still, the county’s rate of 4 percent is lower than the state rate of 4.8 percent, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. Jackson is one of 53 Hoosier counties with a rate lower than the state’s number.

In May, 20,603 people from a workforce of 21,471 in the county were on the job, leaving 868 people still looking for work.

In April, 20,341 people were employed out of a workforce of 21,143, with 802 people unemployed.

“Although we did see a slight uptick in the unemployment rate, there was encouraging news in that both the number of people employed and total labor force increased over the past month,” said Jim Plump, executive director of Jackson County Industrial Development Corp.

While the positive news is that 262 more workers were employed and the labor force increased by 328, Plump said, he understands the 4 percent unemployment rate equates to a tight labor market.

“That is the case throughout our region, which emphasizes the need to continue to focus on workforce development,” he said.

A year ago, 1,075 people were unemployed out of a labor force of 21,427. The county’s unemployment rate at that time was 5 percent.

Jackson County’s May unemployment rate remained eighth-lowest in the state. Dubois County had the lowest rate at 3.2 percent, followed by Hamilton County at 3.4 percent and LaGrange County and neighboring Bartholomew County at 3.5 percent.

Jackson was joined by Whitley, Martin, Carroll and Adams counties at 4 percent.

Vermillion County had the highest unemployment rate in the state at 7.1 percent, which was up from 6.9 percent in April.

Both the state (4.8) and national (5.3) unemployment rates increased by 0.2 percentage point from April to May. Those, however, remained lower than the 2014 rates of 5.9 for the state and 6.1 for the nation.

The Hoosier labor force grew by nearly 1,400 individuals in May and is up more than 19,000 over the past year, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development

Since January 2013, Indiana’s labor force has increased by 64,000, the second-largest growth in the Midwest. During this same period, Indiana’s unemployment rate also has decreased by 3.3 percentage points.

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Unemployment rates

County;May;Ranking

Jackson;4.0;70th

Bartholomew;3.5;89th

Brown;4.5;46th

Jennings;5.0;32nd

Monroe;5.0;33rd

Washington;5.2;27th

Scott;5.5;21st

Lawrence;6.5;4th

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