January Unemployment Report Released

The Indiana Department of Workforce Development in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has released the Unemployment Report for January of 2020.  The unemployment rate in Huntington County per the report is 3.5%.  The reporting period covers December 11, 2019 through January 10, 2020.

 

The rate is significantly lower than that of January of 2019 when it was 4.5% in Huntington County, however, it is higher than the 2.9% during the December 2019 reporting period.

 

"The January reporting period, simply by definition of the period covered, will contain a lot of fluctuations based on the holiday season.  Retailers, for example, both hired and released seasonal workers during the period of this report and our industrial clients business plans often include changes during the holiday season," said Mark Wickersham, executive director of Huntington County Economic Development Corporation. 

 

"I believe the data might be interesting as a baseline going into the current market disruptions caused by the COVID-19 virus,"  Wickersham added.  He concluded by saying, "The current economic dynamics are unlike anything we've recently experienced.  I'm not confident our traditional performance metrics will be especially meaningful short-term.  Regardless, we'll be continuing to work hard to assist employers in whatever way we can as everyone adjusts to the current situation."

 

The job posting website Indeed.com reports 201 jobs immediately available within 10 miles of downtown Huntington.