Unemployment numbers in Morgan, Monroe, Lawrence and Owen counties show improvement from 2021

Lance Gideon, The Reporter Times
·3 min read

Indiana's non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in April was 2.2% according to numbers released by the state's department of workforce development Monday, May 23.

These numbers are a slight decrease from the March numbers, which showed that 2.7% of Hoosiers overall were listed as unemployed.

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Looking at the region in March — Monroe County had the lowest unemployment rate at 2.3%, followed by Morgan County with a 2.4% rate.

Lawrence and Brown counties showed a 2.8% unemployment rate in March, slightly above the state average, while Greene County had a 2.9% jobless rate.

In the six-county region studied for this story, Owen County had the highest unemployment rate in March at 3%.

In the month of April 2022, Monroe County continued to have the lowest unemployment rate at 1.7%, followed by Morgan County at 1.9%.

According to the date, there were 1,234 individuals unemployed in Monroe County in April while Morgan County had 694 unemployed residents.

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Brown County reported a 2.1% rate, Lawrence and Greene counties each showed a 2.2% rate while Owen County had a 2.3% unemployment percentage.

Brown County had 165 unemployed residents in April, while Lawrence County had 449 and Greene County had 300.

Owen County had 216 residents claim unemployment in April.

Due to natural fluctuations in the labor market throughout the year, it's generally best to compare a month in one year to the same month during the previous year.

When comparing April 2022 to April 2021, the overall unemployment numbers are pointing down.

Unemployment rates for the six-county region for April 2021 are as followed:

  • Monroe County — 3.3%

  • Morgan County — 3.3%

  • Lawrence County — 4%

  • Brown County — 4.1%

  • Greene County — 4.2%

  • Owen County — 4.5%

Back in April 2021, the state's overall unemployment rate was listed at 4.2%

Metropolitan Statistical Areas

Brown and Morgan counties are both part of the Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson Metropolitan Statistical Areas, which is by far the largest in the state in terms of its labor force with more than 1 million individuals.

According to the data, the Indianapolis-Carmel-Anderson MSA had a non-seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 2% in April.

Back in in April 2021, the MSA had an unemployment rate of 4.2%.

Both Monroe and Owen counties are part of the Bloomington MSA, which included about 82,000 individuals in its labor force in April.

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The state reported the Bloomington MSA had an overall unemployment rate of 1.8% in April.

One year ago, in April 2021, the Bloomington MSA had a 3.5% unemployment rate.

Unemployment numbers for counties and MSAs for May 2022 are expected to be released by the state at noon on Monday, June 20.

Contact Reporter-Times editor Lance Gideon at lgideon@reporter-times.com or 765-342-1543. Follow him on Twitter: @LanceOGideon.

This article originally appeared on The Reporter Times: Bloomington, Martinsville, Spencer and Bedford unemployment numbers