Jackson County’s preliminary unemployment rate in February fell more than half of a percentage from February 2019, according to an Indiana Department of Workforce Development report issued Monday.

That report, compiled before the COVID-19 pandemic started in earnest, shows 570 or 2.5% of the people from a workforce of 23,014 were looking for work in February. In February 2019, 711 or 3.1% of the people from a workforce of 22,964 were looking for work.

The number of people employed in the county grew from 22,253 in February 2019 to 22,444 in February of this year.

In January of this year, Jackson County had a 2.8% unemployment rate.

The preliminary unemployment rate for the state in February of this year was 3.8%, and the national rate was 4.1%.

Jackson County shared the second lowest rate in the state in February of 2.5% with Bartholomew, LaGrange and Steuben counties. The lowest rate of 2.4% was shared by Boone, Dubois, Hamilton and Martin counties.