It's our top story, but to many in Elkhart County, it may be no surprise.

The most recent numbers show unemployment rates in Elkhart County have more than doubled in the last year, and are among the highest in the state.

Elkhart County’s unemployment rate of 9.3% for September 2008 is second in the state only to Fayette County; which is significantly smaller than Elkhart County.

While the root of the problem is no secret, it's still astonishing how much the rates have changed in just a year.

If you look at the numbers in our area from this time last year, unemployment rates hovered around 4%: healthy scores.

“It’s considered by some people to be full employment. Pretty much anyone who wants a job has one. Then when you have some major layoffs in your community you suddenly double that,” said Kyle Hannon with the Elkhart County Chamber of Commerce.

That's what happened. The rates reported this month are astronomically higher than last year; Elkhart County’s has risen from 4.2% to 9.3%.

“I mean the situation hasn’t taken anyone by surprise. The numbers come out monthly and that reminds everyone that, hey, here’s a number to tell you that things are tough. Well, we know things are tough,” Hannon said.

Months of layoffs and closings of RV plants and the businesses that supply them, had the unemployment line at Elkhart’s WorkOne office at about 2 hours long Wednesday morning.

“That trickles down into are they able to go into restaurants are they able to buy things at the store; it's felt by the whole community,” Hannon said.

That impact has already started in some places.

“Yea I had to cut back hours yesterday and I’ll probably have to cut more next week,” said Gayle Glaser, the Owner of Shortstop Inn in Wakarusa.

Glaser’s restaurant would have been swamped at lunch this time last year, with workers from Monaco coach just down the street. Wednesday, it was nearly empty.

They quickly saw a nearly 50% drop in business.

“It's scary because you still have your taxes, your insurance, and all your bills. So it’s just back to working long hours and trying to survive. That’s all you can do,” Glaser said.

That's the hope: that Elkhart County businesses can hang on.

“At times we were one of the strongest economies in the state; right now we're one of the most challenged. But you know we'll meet challenges, we'll take care of it,” Hannon said.

The chamber of commerce says they are encouraged by falling gas prices; they take that as a sign that the RV industry could have new life sometime in the future.

But they also realize they need to look to new types of industry, to diversify the area.

Meanwhile, if you search unemployment rates based on cities and towns, Elkhart and Goshen have the two highest unemployment rates in September 2008 among cities in the state with a population of more than 25,000 people.

For the state website with complete, searchable unemployment data; follow the link below.