Wells County EDC director gives update on local economy

By Jessica Bricker for the News-Banner | Indiana Economic Digest

Wells County Economic Development Director Chad Kline has started making his rounds across the county’s governing bodies to present his 2018 report.

At this month’s Markle Town Council meeting, he hit some of the highlights with the members.

He also looked ahead for 2019.

“Workforce availability remains a serious issue for Wells County employers,” the report said.

Projects underway or planned for this year include initiating “a marketing campaign to promote Wells County’s quality of place assets to increase tourism, population attraction and population retention.”

Other projects include performing “analysis on Wells County’s available industrial sits to promote development,” as well as serving “in a leadership capacity to develop a brand identity for Wells County marketing efforts.”

Some other notes from the report:

• On employment: “Wells County’s average unemployment rate continued to rank as one of the lowest in the state again throughout 2018 with an average of 2.8 percent for the year. The county, however, did see an increase of residents employed and continue to see the average of unemployment decline. Annual unemployment average for 2017 was 2.9 percent, 2.6 percent in 2016 and 3.9 percent in 2015.” 
• On per capita personal income: “Well’s County per capita personal income increased 2.9 percent from 2016 to 2017; however, was below the northeast Indiana region average of 3.3 percent and the U.S. average of 3.6 percent. Of the 11 counties represented in northeast Indiana, Wells County ranks sixth in PCPI earnings. PCPI is calculated by dividing the county’s total income by its total population.”
• Population changes: “From April 1, 2010, to July 1, 2017, Wells County has seen the population increase by 348 residents. In 2017, Wells County saw an increase across all areas of population change after seeing a domestic migration loss in 2016. From 2012 to 2017, Wells County still has seen a significant loss of natural-born residents from the county while only seeing a few instances where people migrated into the county.”