The Department of Labor has released employment data from December 2014, and the numbers are quite favorable for Kosciusko County.

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The county’s unemployment rate has consistently been among the lowest in the state, and that trend continued through the end of last year. Kosciusko County was at 4.7 percent, more than a whole percent lower than the state average of 5.8 percent.

Kosciusko County’s unemployment is also lower than the national rate of 5.4 percent. However, the county’s unemployment was not as low as the pre-recession rate of 4.4 percent.

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The number of people employed in Kosciusko County was above 2000 people in December 2014. These numbers actually exceed pre-recession numbers.

In December 2007, 38,724 people were employed in Kosciusko County. In December 2014, there were 40,280 people employed in the county.

The most promising data came from total workforce. The total workforce in Kosciusko County was 42,255 – almost 2,000 more workers than in 2007.

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Kosciusko County Economic Development Corporation remarked in it’s latest newsletter that these numbers are likely the effect of people moving to the county for work, siting the old adage: jobs bring people.

With announcements of expansions and new business – from Chore Time Brock to Parkview Warsaw to North Central Co-Op and many others – new jobs are opening up every day. Furthermore, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the Consumer Price Index dipped almost half of a percent in December 2014, with a 9.4 percent drop in gas prices.

In summation, Kosciusko County was in good economic standing to close out 2014. Should the trend of more jobs and lower prices continue through 2015, Kosciusko County would likely experience the most economic prosperity its had since the recession set in.