The economy as published

September 2026 labor figures, published October–November 2026

The rate: The Bureau of Labor Statistics put the South Bend–Mishawaka metropolitan area's unemployment rate at 4.1 percent in September 2026, preliminary and not seasonally adjusted — the latest published month as this section closes, from the bureau's Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment release of 28 October 2026. The metro area is St. Joseph County with Cass County, Michigan; the rate is the region's, not the city's alone, and prints as such. The bureau's South Bend Area Economic Summary, updated 4 November 2026, gives the same month's structure: total nonfarm employment of 139,800, down 0.1 percent over the year, with education and health services the largest sector at 34,500 jobs, then trade, transportation and utilities at 25,000, government at 16,300, manufacturing at 14,800, and leisure and hospitality at 14,700. The summary's wage line, from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages for the first quarter of 2026, puts the area's average weekly wage at $1,217 against a national $1,654.

The employers, as the lists state them: The most recent regional list is the Anderson Economic Group's 2025 market snapshot of the South Bend–Mishawaka region (employment data as of December 2025), which names the region's employers "notable for number employed" without publishing counts: 1st Source Bank, AM General, Beacon Health System, the City of South Bend, Federal-Mogul, Honeywell International, Indiana University South Bend, Memorial Hospital of South Bend, Saint Joseph Health, Saint Mary's College, the South Bend Community School Corporation, Southwestern Michigan College, and the University of Notre Dame — a regional list, Michigan-side entries included, printed here as published. The most recent counted table is older, and prints with its age on it: the South Bend Regional Chamber's economic profile of December 2021, from company-reported figures of 2020, headed by the University of Notre Dame and carrying Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation at 3,500 (the Mishawaka-side district), Saint Joseph Health System and the South Bend schools at 3,000 each, Beacon Health System at 2,500, the City of South Bend at 1,000, Indiana University South Bend at 900, and AM General and Honeywell at 800 each. No counted, ranked employer table newer than that one was found in the record reached for this build; the gap is named rather than filled. For scale at the top of the list, the university's own magazine put Notre Dame at more than 13,000 students and about 8,300 employees in 2025.

Ignition Park: On the former Studebaker land, the 140-acre Ignition Park — a State-Certified Technology Park, paired with Innovation Park at Notre Dame — holds the Catalyst One and Catalyst Two buildings, housing among others the Notre Dame Turbomachinery Laboratory and the Technology Resource Center; the park's first tenant, Data Realty, arrived in the fall of 2012. That is the occupancy as the Business and Industry section of this history documents it; no tenant roster published in 2026 was found in the record reached, and the park's present occupancy beyond the documented anchors is printed as not verified rather than repeated from an older page.

Sources:

1. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment, USDL-26-1618, released 28 October 2026 (September 2026 metro rate, 4.1 percent, preliminary); South Bend Area Economic Summary, updated 4 November 2026 (nonfarm employment and sectors, September 2026; average weekly wage, first quarter 2026).
2. Anderson Economic Group — South Bend–Mishawaka Market Snapshot, 2025 (Lightcast data as of December 2025) — the notable-employers list and the region's largest industries.
3. South Bend Regional Chamber — South Bend Region economic profile, December 2021 (company-provided figures, 2020) — the counted major-employers table.
4. Notre Dame Magazine, 2025 — the campus at more than 13,000 students and about 8,300 employees.
5. The Business and Industry section of this history — Ignition Park's documented occupancy and the Press Ganey redevelopment line.