Bryce Mayer, North Vernon Plain Dealer & Sun
The unemployment rate has climbed to 14.1 percent in Jennings County, which local officials had expected.
"The numbers aren't surprising," said North Vernon Mayor Harold Campbell. "What is sad is that those figures don't include individuals whose unemployment benefits have ended. The total number is more brutal than these state statistics show."
Campbell and other local officialss estimate the actual percentage of out-of-work individuals in Jennings County is probably closer to 16 percent.
The latest unemployment figures are for February and were released Friday by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
Jennings County has the 11th highest rate of Indiana's 92 counties, according to the report. Among neighboring counties, the jobless rates are Decatur 12.6 percent, Scott 11.7 percent, Ripley 11.4 percent, Jackson 10.1 percent, Jefferson 10.1 percent and Bartholomew 8.5 percent.
For the previous month, Jennings County's unemployment rate was 13.4 percent. In February 2008, the county's jobless percentage was 6.9 percent.
Statewide, the unemployment rate was 9.4 percent for last month. Daviess County had the lowest number at 5.9 percent while Elkhart County was again tops with 18.0.
Layoffs in the manufacturing fields and the economic problems facing the automobile industry have elevated Jennings County's unemployment figures, officials have noted.
"We also have a lot of people from here that work out of county who have been laid off," Campbell said. "But it looks like the increases in our unemployment we have seen the last few months is slowing down. There have been no major layoffs in North Vernon in the last 30 days. And there has been more good news than bad news on the national and state front. So maybe there is a glimmer of hope."
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