CORRECTING: Unemployment surging in Indiana

By Keith Benman, Times of Northwest Indiana
keith.benman@nwi.com

A report out Thursday from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics again shows the recession is picking up steam across the Hoosier state.

The Kokomo and Elkhart-Goshen areas recorded the largest jobless rate increases in the nation over the past year, with the rate hitting 18.3 percent in Elkhart-Goshen and 16.5 percent in Kokomo, according to the Bureau's monthly Metropolitan Employment and Unemployment Report.

A year ago, the unemployment rate stood at 7.6 percent in Kokomo and 5.5 percent in Elkhart-Goshen.

The report tracks unemployment rates in 372 metropolitan areas across the United States.

In Northwest Indiana, the unemployment rate hit 9.9 percent as compared to 5.4 percent just one year ago.

That rate was released two weeks ago by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development when it reported unemployment in Indiana hit a 25-year-high of 9.2 percent in January.

The unemployment rate in Illinois hit 8.5 percent in January as compared to 6.3 percent one year ago, according to the Bureau's Thursday report.

The greater Chicago area had an unemployment rate of 8.2 percent in January as compared to 5.8 percent one year ago, according to the report.

Although major steel producers have been consolidating production to Northwest Indiana, temporary layoffs have taken place in a number of mills. A general downturn in the transportation industry also is hitting the region hard, statistics from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development show.