Truth Staff
Elkhart County's unemployment rate reached 10.7 percent in October, up from the 9.3 percent posted in September and more than double the 4.4 percent rate in October 2007, according to figures released Friday from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
Statewide, unemployment has risen to 6 percent from 5.8 percent a month earlier. This is still slightly below the October national rate of 6.1 percent.
Reviewing the current unemployment numbers along with other economic data, Jerrell Ross Richer, associate professor of economics at Goshen College, believes the downturn is far from over. Consumers are curbing their spending and businesses are not buying equipment or expanding, which means the flow of money through the economy will continue to be constricted.
Among Indiana cities, Elkhart posted the highest unemployment rate at 12.2 percent in October. The figure is almost 2 percent higher than the 10.4 percent recorded by the city of Goshen, which had the second-highest unemployment rate in the state.
In October 2007, the jobless rate in Elkhart and Goshen was 5.8 percent and 4.2 percent respectively.
Indiana's October unemployment rate was lower than its neighbors. Michigan is 9.3 percent, followed by Ohio and Illinois at 7.3 percent and Kentucky at 6.8 percent.