‘We’re still in a period of uncertainty’

Area unemployment rate shows slight improvement in Sept.

The Calumet Region, and state of Indiana as a whole, are experiencing a slow economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, with September unemployment numbers inching down from August, but still about double that of the same month last year.

Anthony Sindone, associate professor of finance and economic development at Purdue University Northwest, said this shouldn’t surprise anyone.

“We’re still in a period of uncertainty. Everything’s driven by COVID-19,” Sindone said. “We won’t be out of this any time soon.”

With a 7.9% unemployment rate, the Gary Metropolitan area had the worst unemployment rate in the state in September, with the Michigan City-LaPorte area second at 7.7%, according to the monthly labor force estimates released by the state and prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Gary metro area includes Lake and Porter counties.

Metropolitan Gary’s rate was down from August’s rate of 8.7%, but still about double its 3.9% unemployment rate in September 2019.

The Michigan City area rate was at 8.5% in August, and 3.5% a year ago in September. The City of Gary’s unemployment rate stood at 15.7% in September, the highest in the state, compared to 16.2% in August and 6.7% in September 2019. East Chicago had the second highest rate in September, 12.9%, down from 13.2% in August and more than double the 5.9% rate in September 2019.

Comparatively, Crown Point’s rate stood at 6.5% in September, Hammond’s at 9.0%, Hobart’s at 8.5%, Merrillville’s at 10.6%, Portage’s at 8.6%, Schererville’s at 6.2% and Valparaiso’s at 5.9%.

All of these communities also showed slight improvements over last month, but were still well above the same month last year.

Indiana’s unemployment rate was 6.2% in September, down from 6.4% but still almost double September 2019’s 3.2% rate.

The personal finance website, WalletHub, rated Indiana the 5th slowest state in terms of economic recovery when comparing the week of Oct. 21 to the same week in 2019, the 11th slowest state when comparing the week of Oct. 19 to the first week in January, and the 8th slowest when comparing March 16, 2020, the official start of the pandemic, to Oct. 19, versus the same period in 2019.

While the number of WARN notices of layoffs has dropped considerably in Indiana since the spring and summer, when many businesses were forced to close due to the pandemic, manufacturer Regal Beloit in Valparaiso laid off 86 and Howmet Aerospace in LaPorte laid off 150 in September, according to the state Department of Workforce Development.

Looking ahead, Sindone said construction will be taking its typical yearly hit with the season ending soon, and the hospitality industry is continuing to struggle, and will probably continue to do so for the next couple of years.

He said as a result of the pandemic, the way companies do business is changing and he expects it to continue to change for quite some time.

“No. 1, workers and employers need to realize we need to create structures that will provide the rapid re-skilling of the workforce. Technology will play an even higher role,” Sindone said.

He said he sees a hybrid work environment coming to companies, with half the workforce coming in some days and the other half coming in to work the remaining work days.

“Workers will have to get the skills to be able to do this. That’s where training comes in,” Sindone said.

Secondly, he said owners and those in leadership positions will need to change the way they manage companies.

“They tell their people to use Zoom, for instance, and know nothing about it themselves,” Sindone said. “We’ll need to redo the corporate culture. Part of it is workers need to trust employers and vice versa.

“The changes were coming; COVID is accelerating it,” he said.