Indiana's jobless rate hits 10 percent

DEANNA MARTIN, Associated Press Writer

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Indiana's jobless rate hits 10 percent

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By Beth Boehne

Story Created: Apr 17, 2009 at 10:17 AM EST

Story Updated: Apr 17, 2009 at 4:37 PM EST

INDIANAPOLIS — One in every 10 Indiana workers was out of a job in March as the state's unemployment reached the threshhold of 10 percent, keeping the jobless rate at its highest level since the recession of the early 1980s.

Seasonally adjusted preliminary numbers released Friday show that nearly 340,000 residents were looking for work in March — nearly double the number from the same time a year ago. The new jobless rate compared with February's rate of 9.4 percent.

Indiana's unemployment rate last reached 10 percent in November 1983.

State officials partially blamed continued declines in the auto industry for March's increase.

"Uncertainty in the manufacturing sector, particularly automotive, is causing a ripple effect in Indiana," said Teresa Voors, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. "We saw employment declines in auto manufacturing, transportation and logistics as Indiana plants produce, assemble, transport and warehouse fewer products."

More than two-thirds of Indiana's 92 counties had jobless rates of 10 percent or higher. Most counties in northern Indiana — an area hit hard by job cuts and plant closures in the recreational vehicle industry — had rates above the state average.

LaGrange County had the state's highest unemployment rate, at 18.9 percent. That slightly topped Elkhart County, which had a jobless rate of 18.8 percent and for months has had the dubious distinction of being the epicenter of the state's unemployment problems.

Elkhart Mayor Dick Moore said the economies of the LaGrange and Elkhart counties both rely on the troubled RV industry.

"They're very much aligned and dependent upon the same type of manufacturing," Moore said.

Elkhart County has experienced steep jumps in its monthly unemployment rate since last summer. Its jobless rate soared from 6.8 percent in June to 18.3 in January. February's rate went down slightly to 18 percent, however, and March's rate of 18.8 percent wasn't as big of a jump as some previous months.

Moore hopes the steep increases become smaller and smaller until the economy starts to turn around.

"Hopefully we're seeing a little bit of slowing down of the downturn," Moore said. "I think we will continue to see some downturn before we ever see an upturn."

Ohio, Kentucky and Illinois all posted March seasonally adjusted jobless rates below 10 percent. Michigan had the country's highest unemployment rate at 12.6 percent, followed by Oregon (12.1 percent), South Carolina (11.4 percent), California (11.2 percent), North Carolina (10.8 percent), Rhode Island (10.5 percent), Nevada (10.4 percent) and Indiana.

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