LaGrange County tops state in unemployment rate for March 2009

Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly

Elkhart County no longer has the highest unemployment rate in the state -- its next-door neighbor took the title.

LaGrange County took over the top spot with a March non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 18.9 percent. Elkhart County was second with an 18.8-percent rate, according to figures from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. Both were increases from the 17.7 percent rate reported in LaGrange County and the 18.0 percent rate reported in Elkhart County in February.

The four counties with the highest March unemployment rates in the state were in northeast Indiana: LaGrange, Elkhart, Noble, 17.5 percent; and Steuben, 16.5 percent. DeKalb County had the ninth-highest rate, 14.3 percent. Allen County reported a rate of 10.8 percent.

The statewide non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 10.0 percent in March, an increase of 0.6 percent from February. It is nearly double the rate reported in March 2008. Indiana last reported a 10-percent statewide unemployment rate in November 1983.