Elkhart County: Unemployment, RVs and meth
Elkhart County, also known as the “RV Capital of the World,” also where RedPost is located, now has the dubious distinction of having one of the highest unemployment rates of any county in the nation and is the highest in the state, with 10.4% unemployment.
The RV industry in Elkhart, which produces half of the nation’s RVs, was at its peak around 2004 and boomed from all the FEMA trailer orders after Katrina with around 400,000 wholesale orders. It’s now down to around 250,000 wholesale orders. Apparently though, this downturn isn’t as bad as in the late 70′s/early 80′s, when unemployment reached above 20% locally. Lower gas prices should help sales some, or at least, not hurt them more, but we’re not thru the downturn yet.
I’m betting those unemployment figures don’t count the self-employed producers of meth, who are doing very well in the County, which now is second in the state as far as meth labs recovered. The entrepreneurial spirit runs deep in this County, after all.
