- Tribune-Star staff report
Vermillion County remains atop the state in unemployment at 6.6 percent for February, according to non-seasonally adjusted rates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
Yet, that is a drop from Vermillion County’s 6.8 percent unemployment rate for February 2017.
The lowest non-seasonably adjusted unemployment rate in the Wabash Valley is in Clay County, at 4.2 percent, ranking 24th in the state, which is better than its 4.8 percent unemployment rate in February 2017.
Other Wabash Valley counties include Parke County at 4.5 percent, ranking 19th in the state (5.5 percent in February 2017); Vigo County at 4.8 percent, ranking 12th in the state (5.2 percent in February 2017); Sullivan County at 5.3 percent, ranking seventh highest in the state in non-seasonably adjusted unemployment rate (5.8 percent in February 2017).
The U.S. non-seasonably adjusted rate for February is 4.4 percent, lower than the February 2017 rate of 4.9 percent. The national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is 4.1 percent for February, versus 4.7 percent for February 2017.
Indiana’s non-seasonably adjusted rate for February 2018 is 3.7 percent versus 4.3 percent for the same month in 2017. The seasonally adjusted rate for Indiana is 3.2 percent this February versus 3.7 percent in February 2017.
The Terre Haute Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Vigo, Clay, Sullivan and Vermillion counties, has a February 2018 unemployment rate of 4.9 percent, versus a 5.4 percent unemployment rate in February 2017. The MSA last month had a labor force of 76,444, with 72,682 employed and 3,762 unemployed.
A year ago, the MSA had a labor force of 76,750, with 72,623 employed and 4,127 unemployed, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
