Morgan County saw record low unemployment in February. Morgan County’s data in March only jumped slightly after the stay-at-home order was put in force to 3.3%. In number’s released today for the month of April, pandemic unemployment has hit the region in full force. Morgan County’s unemployment rate jumped 8 points to 11.1% in the month of April.
There was only one county in the region that was in single digit unemployment. Brown County’s April rate was 8.4%. Schuyler was at 11.5%, Cass was at 10.5%, Scott was at 10.7%, Pike was at 11.3%, and Greene County was highest in the region at 11.7%. None were near the statewide average of 16.4%.
Some say the adjustment for numbers in April were incorrect due to the fact that IDES continued to have multiple problems in their unemployment claims website and the fact that 1099-filers weren’t allowed to file claims until near the end of the month of April. House GOP members have called for an audit of IDES and one representative has begun recall measures because of the issues. According to IDES spokesperson Sam Salustro last Thursday, the department has processed more than 1.2 million claims in the last 11 weeks.
The current unemployment rates and claims are all record numbers according to data tracking that began in 1990.