Unemployment fell across Northwest Indiana in October, declining under 3% in Porter County, Crown Point and Schererville.
The Region still had some of the highest jobless rates in the state. Lake County ranked second in joblessness statewide. LaPorte County was third, and Porter County 22nd.
Cities in north Lake County have been especially hard hit by the continuing economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 9% of the workforce remained unemployed in Gary and more than 7% were out of work and looking in East Chicago, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
The jobless rate peaked at nearly 20% in Northwest Indiana in April 2020, but largely has been declining since then. The jobless rate fell 0.4 percentage points to 3.7% in October 2021 across the Gary metropolitan area, which encompasses Lake, Porter, Newton and Jasper counties. The unemployment rate in the Gary metro area was 4% the previous month, 5.9% two months ago and 6.9% in October 2020.
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In October, Lake County had the Hoosier State's second-highest jobless rate at 4.2%, down from 4.7% from the previous month, and down significantly from 7.8% during the depth of the coronavirus downturn in October 2020. Howard County, where the similarly blue-collar manufacturing town of Kokomo is located, had the highest jobless rate in Indiana.
LaPorte County ranked third highest of Indiana's 92 counties at 3.4% unemployment in October, which was down from 3.8% in September, and down significantly from 6.9% at the same time a year ago, according to the Department of Workforce Development.
Porter County's unemployment declined to 2.6% in October, down from 2.9% in September, and down from 5.3% at the same point a year earlier.
Overall, Indiana's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dipped to 3.3% in October, down from 3.5% the previous month and 5.6% at the same time the previous year. The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 4.6%, down from 4.8% the previous month and down from 6.9% at the same point a year earlier, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Unemployment climbed as high as 12% in Northwest Indiana during the depths of the Great Recession in the late 2000s, but it had been significantly higher in Northwest Indiana during the pandemic following stay-at-home orders meant to stop the spread of a virus that has killed more than 797,000 Americans and nearly 5.2 million people around the globe. More than one out of 10 Region residents on average were out of work for months.
In October, joblessness fell across in Northwest Indiana, dropping by 1.1 percentage points in Gary, 0.7 percentage points in Michigan City and 0.6 percentage points in Hammond and Merrillville.
In the Calumet Region, Gary had the highest jobless rate of 9.3%, East Chicago the second highest at 7.2%, Merrillville the third highest at 7.5% and Michigan City the fourth highest at 5.5%.
Crown Point had the lowest jobless rate in the Region at 2.3%, followed by Schererville at 2.4% and Valparaiso at 2.5%.