Bartholomew County unemployment fell for the third consecutive month in July, but still remained more than two times higher than it was before the pandemic forced business earlier this year to close and lay off workers at levels not seen since the Great Depression.
In July, the county’s unemployment rate was 6.8%, down from 10.6% in June and 18.4% in April, according to figures released Monday by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
The statewide jobless rate was 7.9% in July, down from 11.2% in June and 17.1% in April. U.S. unemployment fell to 10.2% in July, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
A total of 114 workers in Bartholomew County filed initial jobless claims the week ending Aug. 15, the lowest since the pandemic took root in the United States, according to the latest figures from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. That was down from 122 the previous week and 1,845 the week ending April 11.
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Additionally, 1,559 Bartholomew County workers were receiving jobless benefits the week ending Aug. 8, down from 1,782 the week before and 5,039 the week ending May 2.
Despite the drop, claims still remain high.
By comparison, the average number of initial jobless claims in Bartholomew County from January 2010 to January 2020 was around 39, while the average number of continued claims was 434 over the same time period, according to state figures. Last year, those figures had dropped to 20 and 127, respectively.
The last county-level unemployment figures came just days after the federal government reported that the number of workers applying for unemployment climbed back over 1 million the weekend ending Aug. 15 after two weeks of declines, according to The Associated Press
The national figures suggest that employers are still slashing jobs even as some businesses reopen and some sectors like housing and manufacturing have rebounded.
The overall number of laid-off American workers collecting unemployment benefits declined the week ending Aug. 15 from 15.5 million to 14.8 million.
Many businesses and consumers remain paralyzed by uncertainty and restricted by lockdowns, and job gains appear to be slowing from the rapid bounce-backs of May and June, when millions of restaurant and store employees were rehired, according to wire reports. The number of job openings posted on Indeed fell last week for the first time since April.
Twenty-two million jobs were lost to the outbreak in March and April. In the past three months, only 9.3 million have been regained, and unemployment remains high at 10.2%.
