Unemployment rate rises across Calumet Region but Lake County falls to fifth in joblessness

It's the first time Lake County hasn't been No. 1 or No. 2 in unemployment in Indiana in years.

Lake County ranked fifth in joblessness statewide, LaPorte County eighth and Porter County 23rd, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

The jobless rate rose 0.7 percentage points to 4.6% in January across the Gary metropolitan area, which encompasses Lake, Porter, Newton and Jasper counties. The unemployment rate in the Gary metro area was 3.9% the previous month and 4.7% in January 2022.

In January, Lake County had the Hoosier State’s highest fifth jobless rate at 4.9%, up from 4.3% from the previous month and down from 5.2% during January of 2022. LaGrange, Noble, Starke and Elkhart County all surpassed Lake County in unemployment in January, the most recent month for which data was available.

LaPorte County ranked eighth highest of Indiana’s 92 counties at 4.4% unemployment in January, which was up from 3.4% in December and up from 4.3% at the same time a year ago, according to the Department of Workforce Development.

Porter County’s unemployment rose to 3.8% in January, up from 3.1% in December, and up from 3.6% at the same as at the same point a year earlier.

Overall, Indiana’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stayed steady at 3.1% in January, up from 2.9% at the same time the previous year. The U.S. unemployment rate dipped to 3.5% in December, down from 3.6% at the same point a year earlier, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Unemployment climbed as high as 12% in Northwest Indiana during the depths of the Great Recession in the late 2000s, but it had been significantly higher in Northwest Indiana during the pandemic following stay-at-home orders meant to stop the spread of a virus that has killed more than 1.1 million Americans and more than 6.8 million people around the globe. More than one out of 10 Region residents on average were out of work for months.

In January, joblessness rose all across Northwest Indiana except in Gary, where it fell by 0.2 percentage point. It rose by 1 percentage point in Portage and Schererville, 0.9 percentage point in Crown Point and Hammond, 0.8 percentage point in East Chicago and 0.7 percentage point in Valparaiso.

In the Calumet Region, East Chicago has the highest unemployment rate at 7%, followed by Gary at 6.7% and Merrillville and Hobart at 5.2%. Valparaiso has the lowest at 3.2%, followed by Crown Point at 4% and Schererville and Portage at 4.5%.