September Unemployment Rate at 4.5%

The Indiana Department of Workforce Development and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics have released the September Unemployment Report.

1.     *The reporting period includes temporary, planned lay-offs of nearly 150 at Continental Structural Plastics (CSP). Those lay-offs were timed with the installation of new manufacturing equipment as part of their $33.5 million expansion, which will create 157 new jobs when operational.

2      *The reporting period also includes temporary, seasonal lay-offs at Onward Mfg.

3. It  *There were 6 more people listed among the Unemployed in September compared to August. Again that’s 6 more people.

5. *  * The reporting period also covers routine seasonal changes as school went back into session (the reporting period is from   August 11-September 10) which also distorts the picture.

The following companies in Huntington County are currently hiring:

*Auto Truck Group

*Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems

*Continental Structural Plastics

*Dean Foods

*Echo Lake Foods

*Ecolab

*Homier, LLC

*Huntington Sheet Metal

*Our Sunday Visitor

*Novae

*PHD

*Transwheel

*UTC

2017 expansions at Bendix and Incipio Devices also account for nearly 60 additional NEW job opportunities.

"Given the continuing lay-offs at UTEC and the temporary statistics, I anticipate our unemployment rate will continue to be “somewhat elevated” over the next 2 reporting cycles, however, as CSP returns to production and begins hiring for their expansion, as well as the impact of other local job openings and regional announcements, I believe, absent any other “events”, the rate will re-stabilize late this year and during the early part of the 1^st quarter," said Mark Wickersham, executive director of the Huntington County Economic Development Corporation.