Just this week, Elkhart, Ind., was deemed to have the lowest unemployment rate in the country. With Amazon planning a large facility there, the South Bend Tribune looked at an equation that doesn’t seem to add up.
The Elkhart area will likely have to look outside its borders to find the estimated 1,000 workers needed at a massive 800,000-square-foot Amazon fulfillment center along the Indiana Toll Road, and a smaller delivery station that’s being built near the Elkhart Municipal Airport.
Both are expected to open in 2023 and finding the necessary workers in the immediate area could be challenging, since the Elkhart-Goshen metropolitan area had an unemployment rate of 0.9 percent in December, the lowest in the nation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“This low unemployment rate shows how many people are coming into Elkhart to work each and every day,” Elkhart Mayor Rod Roberson said in a release about the record-level unemployment figure. “This booming workforce needs diverse employment opportunities as well as affordable housing choice to become a part of the Elkhart community.”
The county already has a net inflow of roughly 40,000 workers a day and many are driving 45 minutes to get to jobs at the area’s dominant RV and boat-building industries, as well as their suppliers, according to economic development officials.
Officials have speculated that Amazon might have located the multi-story fulfillment center along the Toll Road between County Road 17 and County Road 19 because of the transportation connections that will allow it to move goods to major markets.
Click here to read the full story from Ed Semmler in the South Bend Tribune.