Steve Garbacz, Commercial Review County Reporter

For the second month, unemployment rates continued to decrease in the region as Jay County saw nearly a percentage point drop in joblessness during September.

According to labor estimates from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, the unemployment rate in Jay County dipped .8 percentage points to 10.4 percent. It was the second month in a row that a considerable decrease in unemployment occurred.

That rate is below what it was six months ago when the county experienced an 11.5 percent unemployment rate, but is still well above where the county was a year ago at 6 percent.

"I'm going to still hold to my (prediction of) below 10 percent by the end of the year," said Jay County Development  Corp. director Bill Bradley.

"In my discussions with local manufacturers, they're not extremely rosy, but they're stable. They're seeing some moderate growth. I think that's going to hold."

Manufacturers and companies in the county have continued to call back a few workers at a time as the economic outlook keeps improving.

Bradley also said a trend seen in recent months is continuing as companies continue to look at Jay County as a potential site for locations or expansions.

"Our pipeline of prospects and people interested in looking at Jay County ... has been filling up," he said. "It's much more active than what it was 6-9 months ago. ... The good thing is in Jay County and most of east central Indiana, we have product available - we have buildings and we have sites."

Bradley and other local officials recently returned from a conference in Chicago where he met with a Taiwanese delegation where he received leads on a few companies looking to locate in the Midwest.

County officials continue to make contacts with potential business from the Far East. In September, Portland Mayor Bruce Hosier traveled to China and Japan on an economic development mission.
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