The unemployment rate in Marion and Grant County rose again in January, according to a monthly report issued by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
In the city, the rate was up to 13 percent in January, climbing from 11.2 percent in December 2008 and from 8.7 percent a year earlier.
It was the fifth-highest rate amongst Indiana cities with a population of at least 25,000, trailing Elkhart (19.2 percent), Goshen (18.9), Kokomo (17.4) and East Chicago (13.4).
Carmel (4.8 percent), West Lafayette (4.8) and Fishers (4.9) had the lowest rates of the 35 cities.
Grant County's rate climbed to 12.3 percent in January, up from 9.8 percent in December and from 7.2 percent a year ago.
"It's hard to find a bright spot," Tim Eckerle of the Grant County Economic Growth Council said.
Although the county's unemployment rate has climbed by 5.1 percentage points in the past 12 months, its relative rank of unemployment among the state's counties has dramatically improved.
For January 2009, the county was 24th among 92 counties, down from sixth for the January 2008 survey.
Eckerle said the automotive- and manufacturing-dependent county economy felt the recession earlier than other places and has therefore improved relative to other counties of late.
Despite the doom and gloom and rising unemployment at the local, state and national levels, Eckerle said there are still businesses in the area looking to make investments, though he added they are mostly small in nature.
He also said he doesn't expect local hiring by TriEnda or Meijer will significantly jolt the numbers in any given month, though the cumulative effect of hundreds of new jobs should be evident in the early months of this year.
Indiana's unemployment rate was an estimated 9.9 percent in January.
"Generally speaking, we're seeing a decline across most major sectors, with the exception of public schools, health care and those areas," said Marc Lotter, spokesman for the DWD.
The hardest-hit industries in Indiana have been manufacturing, transportation, wholesale and retail, he said.
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