Dubois County unemployment rises slightly, still below state average

Dubois County’s unemployment rate ticked up in June, but it still stayed below Indiana’s 3.3% average. That leaves the county in a softer spot than earlier in the spring, yet still short of the kind of jump that usually points to broad labor-market stress. Nearby counties were mixed in May, with Daviess at 2.7%, Spencer at 2.8% and Perry at 3.1%.

Hoosierdata’s Dubois County profile says local employment is tabulated as jobs and is built from Bureau of Labor Statistics and Indiana Department of Workforce Development data. In April, Dubois County’s labor force stood at 21,518 people, with 21,070 employed and 448 unemployed, for a 2.1% unemployment rate. By May, Hoosierdata’s county map showed Dubois County at 2.9%, still below Indiana’s 3.2% rate and the U.S. rate of 4.1%.

That month-to-month movement deserves caution because Indiana’s county unemployment figures are not seasonally adjusted and are revised the following month. In other words, a small rise can reflect timing, school schedules, construction cycles or people re-entering the labor force, not necessarily a sharp drop in business demand. The pattern in Dubois County looks more like a market cooling at the edges than one under strain.

The local hiring picture still shows employers looking for workers across several parts of the economy. Recent postings in Dubois County have included housekeeper, assembler and production associate jobs, along with a restaurant cook job paying $17 an hour, CNA or HHA openings and a special education assistant position at Southwest Dubois County School. That spread touches manufacturing, health care, food service and education, which suggests businesses are still competing for both hourly workers and people willing to work set shifts.

Indiana’s unemployment rate held at 3.3% in June, unchanged from May, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, and USAFacts also placed the state at 3.3%. Dubois County was still outperforming that benchmark, and it was doing so from a stronger starting point than the state and nation: in June 2019, Dubois County’s unemployment rate was 2.5%, compared with 3.3% for Indiana and 3.8% for the U.S. The county’s latest uptick is worth watching, but the numbers still point to a labor market that remains relatively tight for local families and employers.