Jackson County’s unemployment rate stood at 3.6% in August, rising from 2.9% in August 2023, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce’s latest report released Monday.

Overall, 22,391 county residents were on the job during August of this year. That’s 39 more than in August 2023 when 22,325 county residents were working.

The August 2024 rate, which is preliminary, also was 0.5% less than the final July 2024 rate of 4.1%.

The number of county residents reporting they were looking for work in August was 826 compared to 665 who were looking for work during the same month a year earlier.

The county’s labor force was 23,217 in August, which is 227 more than labor force during the same month in 2023.

The county’s unemployment rate for July was lower than the state’s rate of 4.4% and the national rate which was also 4.4%. Jackson County’s rate was lower than any of the surrounding counties.

Other counties and their preliminary unemployment rates for July were Bartholomew, 3.7%; Brown, 3.8%; Jennings, 4.0%; Lawrence, 5.2%; Monroe, 4.5%; Scott, 4.7%; and Washington, 4.0%.

Martin, Dubois, Clinton and Boone Counties had the lowest rates in the state at 3.3% in August and Howard County had the highest at 11.0%.