By Boris Ladwig, The Republic
bladwig@therepublic
Bartholomew County gained 344 jobs in the last year, while the state lost 9,500 and the nation shed more than 1.1 million.
Most other south-central Indiana counties also fared better in September than the state and nation.
However, unemployment rates rose across the board as significantly more people were reported jobless, according to Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
Bartholomew County in September employed 37,375, up 344, or just less than 1 percent, from September 2007.
The state in September employed 3.06 million, down 0.31 percent from a year earlier, while the nation's employment fell nearly 0.8 percent to 143.3 million.
Brown, Jackson, Johnson and Shelby counties gained jobs, while Decatur and Jennings counties, in percentage terms, lost more jobs than the state.
Despite the job gains, Bartholomew County's unemployment rate spiked from 3.2 percent in September 2007 to 4.5 percent in September.
The increase was caused by higher numbers of job seekers. The number of people actively seeking jobs rose by 46 percent from 1,211 in September 2007 to 1,769 in September.
In Indiana, more than 56,000 more Hoosiers than a year earlier were looking for jobs, pushing the unemployment rate to 5.8 percent. It was 4.1 percent a year earlier.
Nationwide, nearly 9.2 million, or 2.2 million more than a year ago, were looking for jobs. The national unemployment rate rose to 6 percent, up from 4.5 percent.