Elkhart-Goshen unemployment rate now at 15.3 percent

The Associated Press

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By WSBT News1

Story Created: Jan 27, 2009 at 11:40 AM EST

Story Updated: Feb 1, 2009 at 12:38 PM EST

INDIANAPOLIS –– The Indiana Department of Workforce Development released its monthly employment report for December 2008 on Tuesday.

And the numbers were neither surprising nor good –– locally or statewide.

In December, Indiana’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 8.2 percent. The national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 7.2 percent.

Eight states, including Indiana, reported unemployment rate increases of 1 percent or greater.

The Elkhart-Goshen area’s December unemployment rate leads the state at 15.3 percent with an estimated 15,983 people out of work.

Marshall County has the fifth worst at 12.0 percent, and Starke was at 11.5 percent and Kosciusko at 11.0 percent.

St. Joseph County is at 9.5 percent with an estimated 12,562 people out of work in December. In December 2007, that number was 4.7 percent, the same rate as Elkhart County at that time.

"Today’s report underscores the news we have heard across the nation about the current state of the economy," said Teresa Voors, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. "December layoffs in the manufacturing, construction and retail sectors each stand out as major contributors to Indiana’s increase in unemployment."

For more on this story continue to check WSBT.com, WSBT-TV, and read Wednesday’s South Bend Tribune.

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