Kevin Howell, The Herald Journal Reporter
Indiana's unemployment numbers have jumped nearly 2 percent over the past year moving up from 4.5 percent in August, 2007 to 6.4 percent last month.
For the same time period White County has also seen increases going from 4.2 percent to 5.5 percent, with the most recent change upward of .4 percent from July to August.
The latest figures were released by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development which also notes Indiana's unemployment remains lower than neighboring Midwest states.
"In August, Indiana's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.4 percent. Indiana's rate is nearly one-half percent lower than any neighboring state," the report notes. "The unemployment rate in Michigan is 8.9 percent, followed by Ohio at 7.4 percent, Illinois at 7.3 percent and Kentucky at 6.8 percent. The national unemployment rate is 6.1 percent."
Locally, Monticello Manpower branch manager Dorrie Luck is in a quandary as to why the county is experiencing an increase in unemployment.
"I honestly can't tell you where this increase is coming from," said Luck. "(But) more people every month are filing for unemployment.
She said business for her office was down a little for August and not as many people were being placed, but she is seeing an increase for this month.
"The good news is that industrial business here at Manpower has really increased for the month of September so hopefully we will be able to get some of these people who are drawing unemployment back to work," Luck said.
For White County's neighbors, Carroll County's numbers dropped slightly from 6.7 to 6.6 percent from July to August but remains about 2 percent higher than a year ago.
Jasper County's unemployment rate increased from 4.9 to 5.5 percent, Cass County saw a decrease for the same time period from 7.2 to 6.3 percent, Benton County's numbers rose from 5.0 to 5.3 percent, and Tippecanoe County dropped slightly from 5.1 to 4.9 percent.