By BILL POWELL
bpowell@dcherald.com

A new state report shows area unemployment edged up in June but Dubois County remained tied with Elkhart County for Indiana’s second-best rate.

The Indiana Department of Workforce Development says LaGrange County remained in sole possession of Indiana’s lowest unemployment rate in June: 2.6 percent (up from 2.3 percent). Dubois and Elkhart counties were next with 2.7 percent rates (up from 2.4 percent).

The state’s highest June unemployment — 5.6 percent — was in Vermillion County, which is north of Terre Haute along the Indiana-Illinois border. Vermillion County’s rate was up a full percentage point from the previous month.
Rates in June rose in all eight of Dubois County’s neighbors: Crawford, 4.2 percent (up from 3.7 percent); Daviess, 3.1 percent (up from 2.6 percent); Martin, 3.1 percent (up from 2.6 percent); Orange, 4.1 percent (up from 3.6 percent); Perry, 3.9 percent (up from 3.4 percent); Pike, 3.6 percent (up from 3.1 percent); Spencer, 3.4 percent (up from 2.9 percent) and Warrick, 3.2 percent (up from 2.8 percent).

The overall state rate in June was 3.3 percent (up from 3.2 percent), which was below a national rate of 4.0 percent (up from 3.8 percent).

Dubois County’s labor force consisted of 24,108 people in June — 23,449 of whom were employed. That left 659 classified as unemployed.

By way of comparison, the county’s rate in June 2017 was 2.3 percent, or four-tenths of a percent lower than the sixth month of 2018.

Indiana’s 3.3 percent June rate was lower than all of its neighboring states. Those other states’ rates were: Ohio, 4.5 percent (up from 4.3 percent); Kentucky, 4.2 percent (up from 4.1 percent); Michigan, 4.5 percent (down from 4.6 percent); and Illinois, 4.3 percent (unchanged). Other Midwest rates in June were: Minnesota, 3.1 percent (unchanged); and Wisconsin, 2.9 percent (up from 2.8 percent).