County unemployment rate steady in March

<p>Although the unemployment rate is expected to rise significantly in April due to coronavirus-related job losses, March saw a slight increase in the county’s unemployment rate.</p><p>The county’s jobless rate grew to 2.7% from 2.6% in February. It was still lower than the January rate of 2.9%, and falls below the March state unemployment rate of 3.4%, which was steady from the previous month. Out of 92 Indiana counties, just nine had lower unemployment rates than Johnson County in March.</p><p>Johnson County also showed a decreased unemployment rate compared to this time last year, when 3.1% of work-eligible residents did not have a job.</p><p>Overall, more than 80,600 Johnson County residents had a job in March, and about 2,200 were unemployed.</p><p>The data comes from the monthly report released by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, which tracks employment statistics.</p><p>Hamilton County in central Indiana and Dubois County in southern Indiana tied for the state’s lowest unemployment rate at 2.4%, while Lake County in northwest Indiana had the highest jobless rate at 5.3%.</p>