Indiana Department of Workforce Development

Lake County's unemployment rate for September was 6.1 percent, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, up from 4.4 percent in September of 2023. Porter County's unemployment rate was 4.5 percent, up from 3.2 percent a year earlier.

Lake County's August unemployment rate was 6.4 percent, compared to 6.6 the month before, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. Porter County's rate dropped to 4.8 from 5.1 percent.

Slightly more Northwest Indiana residents are looking for work, but fewer appear to be finding jobs.

Unemployment rates are up in Lake and Porter counties.

Local unemployment rates dropped from March to April, but they remain higher than they were the same period last year.

More Lake and Porter County residents were working in March than in February, according to the latest employment numbers released by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

Lake County continues to have Indiana's highest unemployment rate. It rose to six percent in February, up from 5.7 percent the month before and in February of 2023. Gary, in particular, has the highest unemployment rate of any major city in Indiana at 8.2 percent, followed closely by East Chicago at 7.8 percent.

Lake and Porter counties ended 2023 with higher unemployment rates than the prior year.

Lake County's unemployment rate rose to five percent in November, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. That's up from 4.3 percent during the same period last year. Meanwhile, Porter County's unemployment rate was 3.7 percent, half a percentage point higher than last November.

Unemployment rates are down a tenth of a percent in Lake and Porter counties. Lake County's October unemployment rate was 4.7 percent, while Porter County's was 3.4, according to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development. But those numbers are up slightly, compared to October of 2022.