By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
WCLU News
Barren County’s seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate rose 0.7 percentage points between October 2023 and 2024, according to the numbers provided by the Kentucky Center for Statistics.
The October 2024 unemployment rate is 5 percent and the prior October saw a rate of 4.3 percent. This is higher than the region’s 4.7 percent and, when compared to individual counties, is the fourth highest average — Barren County and Hart County both have 5 percent and the lowest rate is Simpson County at 4.2 percent.
Based on the numbers, Barren County has 17,979 people currently in the labor force with 17,082 employed and 897 unemployed. Interestingly, though the percentage is higher for October, September — which had a 5.2 percent unemployment — reported 934 individuals unemployed; 37 more people. In fact, this is the first time the raw unemployment number has dropped below 900 since June 2024.
Kentucky had an unemployment rate of 4.7 percent with 97,557 people classified as unemployed and nationally the percentage was 3.9 percent.
“Civilian labor force statistics include nonmilitary workers and unemployed Kentuckians who are actively seeking work. They do not include unemployed Kentuckians who have not looked for employment within the past four weeks,” the press release states.
Due to the small sample size, the county numbers are not seasonally adjusted meaning the “sharp fluctuations” that can be caused by weather or school openings and closings have not been accounted for.
