by Kevin Smith
Despite dropping last month, Cass County’s unemployment rate has risen to its highest level this year.
Numbers released by the Indiana Business Research Center at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business showed the March unemployment rate for the county is at 12.8 percent. Unemployment in the county was at 12 percent in February and 12.6 percent in January.
The numbers correlate to a labor force of 18,808 — 16,395 of whom are employed and 2,413 unemployed.
A year ago, just 6.8 percent of the county’s workforce were unemployed.
Logansport Economic Development president Skip Kuker thinks the increase is due to temporary shutdowns at nearby auto plants.
Logansport sends an estimated 1,500 workers to Chrysler and Delphi plants in Howard County.
Kuker said that depending on the condition of Chrysler, the numbers may go up again next month.
“We are going to be waiting to see if there are going to be any major developments at Chrysler and GM,” Kuker said. “We will see over the next two weeks to 40 days how that plays out.”
Cass County’s unemployment rate is greater than the state’s March rate of 10.6 percent. That was higher than February’s figure of 10.1 percent.
For the first time, Kuker has access to unemployment statistics of for Cass County from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
For the week ending March 28, there were 255 initial claims in the county, with 1,320 persons continuing claims that week.
Kuker said the figures give a more accurate reflection of who is filing for unemployment.
“We actually have a negative flow of workers in and out of the county,” Kuker said. “They may work in Howard County, but live in Cass County. This gives us a reflection of how many residents here are now filing for unemployment every week.”
Statewide figures show 10 percent, or around 340,000 people, are out of work. Indiana is ranks eighth nationally for unemployment.
Cass County remained steady in the county-by-county comparison.
The county climbed one place to 40th for labor force, remained 41st for employed and 39th for unemployed.
Neighboring counties also experienced an increase in unemployment figures.
Miami County rose to 15.1 percent unemployed, from 14.2 in February; Carroll went up to 10.2 percent, from 9.9 the previous month. In White County the unemployment rate is 11.9 percent while Howard’s rate is 13.7 percent and Fulton’s is 13.5 percent.
More than two-thirds of Indiana’s counties have unemployment figures of 10 percent or more.
Teresa Voors, Workforce Development commissioner, said uncertainty in the manufacturing sector has had a ripple effect in Indiana.
With reductions in employment in auto manufacturing, transportation and logistics, she said, plants are producing, assembling, transporting and warehousing fewer products.
Kevin Smith can be contacted at (574) 732-5148 or via e-mail at kevin.smith@pharostribune.com
