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Indiana unemployment figures released Friday are stark evidence of the economy’s continuing decline.
That’s especially true in northeast Indiana, where all but two of the 11 counties in our region had double-digit unemployment percentages, and in northwest Ohio, where rates in all four area counties topped 13 percent.
Indiana’s January unemployment, 9.9 percent, was at its highest in 25 years. The last time it was in that range was early 1984, said Jerry Conover, director of the Indiana Business Research Center and Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.
Unemployment figures for Indiana usually trail the release of national data.
In northeast Indiana, Noble County saw the biggest jump, from 13.8 percent in December to 17.9 percent in January. It was the third-highest rate among the state’s 92 counties. Noble County unemployment was 6.8 percent in January 2008.
Rick Sherck, executive director of the Noble County Economic Development Corp., attributed the jump to "the RV effect": massive shutdowns and layoffs in an industry concentrated heavily in Elkhart, LaGrange and, to a lesser extent, Adams counties.
"We’re seeing this in northeast Indiana as a whole," Sherck said.
Gary Zehr, Sherck’s counterpart in LaGrange County, agreed. Unemployment in LaGrange County climbed 2.9 percentage points between December and January, to 18 percent. That rate was second in the state only to Elkhart County’s 18.3 percent.
"It’s putting some pretty heavy pressure on our services," Zehr said. "We’re seeing families ask for help we’ve never seen before."
Allen County unemployment climbed 1.4 percentage points in January to 9.5 percent.
The poor regional economy stretches across state lines. At 15.4 percent, Williams County had the sixth-highest jobless rate among Ohio’s 88 counties for January.
Oren Elliott Products Inc. is a family-owned business in Edgerton that makes parts for manufacturers of machine tools used in producing computer microchips. The effects of declining electronics sales get worse the further along the supply chain, plant Manager Steven Elliott said Friday.
"It’s a whip effect, and we’re near the end of the whip," he said, noting that orders for most Williams County manufacturers dried up in December.
Oren Elliott laid off 20 of its 50 workers in January, hoping to get through what it expects to be a difficult year without further cuts.
In the previous recession, to which most economists compare the current one, Indiana unemployment peaked at 12.8 percent in December 1982. Conover said the state’s current 9.9 percent jobless rate was first hit in December 1980 before peaking and coming down to about 9 percent at the beginning of 1984.
"I don’t think we’re going to get as deep as it was in the early ’80s," Conover said, when asked whether it would be years before employment picks back up.
But northeast Indiana relies heavily on an industry particularly beleaguered: car and truck manufacturing.
"I think it’s going to be a long time before we see the automotive sector where it was," Conover said.
