EVANSVILLE — Indiana’s unemployment rate fell statewide in December, but also in Southwestern Indiana and its municipalities, according to an Indiana Department of Workforce Development report.
The state released its monthly unemployment report Jan. 28. A regional labor market review based on that data came out this week. The report covers nine Southwestern Indiana counties: Vanderburgh, Warrick, Posey, Gibson, Dubois, Knox, Perry, Pike and Spencer. These counties make up what workforce officials call Economic Growth Region 11.
According to the report, Indiana’s non-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in December was 6.3 percent, down from 8.5 percent in December 2012. The state’s rate was slightly lower than the U.S. unemployment rate, which was 6.5 percent in December as compared to 7.6 percent in December 2012.
And, continuing a long-standing pattern, Southwestern Indiana’s nine-county region had unemployment rates below the state average. The region’s average unemployment rate for December was 5.5 percent, down from 7.4 percent a year earlier.
Vanderburgh County’s rate was 5.9 percent (down from 7.6 percent a year earlier); and Evansville’s rate was 6.4 percent, down from 8.2 percent a year earlier.
“We think that’s worth celebrating,” said Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke, who broadcast the news via Twitter and reached out to local media outlets after receiving the report Thursday.
Within the region, Dubois County had the lowest unemployment rate in December, at 4.2 percent. The county with the highest rate was Perry, at 6.3 percent. A year earlier, those counties had unemployment rates of 6.0 and 8.4 percent, respectively.
Among the region’s municipalities, Boonville’s unemployment was the highest, at 7.6 percent. Jasper had the lowest rate, at 4.6 percent. A year earlier those cities’ rates were 8.9 percent and 5.8 percent, respectively.
The report also noted that within the Evansville metropolitan area, total nonfarm employment actually decreased slightly over the year. The Evansville metro includes Vanderburgh, Gibson, Posey and Warrick Counties as well as the Kentucky counties of Henderson and Webster.
Total nonfarm employment in the metro area was 176,300 in December. That represents a drop of 900 jobs, or 0.5 percent, from December 2012.
Greg Wathen, president and chief executive officer of the Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana, cautioned against relying on any single metric when trying to understand the economy.
“You also have to look at other things and say, ‘What does it mean?’” Wathen said.
Wathen said he looks at unemployment numbers in connection with other metrics such as employment numbers and labor force participation.
Unemployment data is gathered from a monthly sample survey. A person is counted as unemployed if he or she is out of work and has actively looked for a job within the past four weeks.