By Marilyn Odendahl, Truth Staff
modendahl@etruth.com
Elkhart County has been knocked from the state's top spot on the May jobless list, according to unemployment figures released today from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
Howard County, home to Kokomo and heavily reliant on the auto industry, saw its unemployment jump almost 7 percentage points to 19.3 in May from April. Meanwhile, Elkhart County dropped slightly to 17.5 percent in May from 17.8 percent in April.
The five Indiana counties with the highest unemployment in May are as follows:
1. Howard 19.3 percent
2. Elkhart 17.5 percent
3. Noble 17.3 percent
4. LaGrange and Miami (tie) 16.6 percent
Also, Kokomo overtook the city of Elkhart in high unemployment. Kokomo's jobless rate skyrocketed to 19.5 percent in May, compared to Elkhart which slipped to 19.2 percent in May from 19.8 percent in April.
Hoosier cities leading the May jobless rate are as follows:
1. Kokomo 19.5 percent
2. Elkhart 19.2 percent
3. Goshen 17.6 percent
4. Marion 14.3 percent
5. East Chicago City 13.6 percent
Overall in May, the state recorded a bump in unemployment to 10.4 percent. In April the jobless figure was 9.9 percent and in May 2008 the rate was 5.1 percent.