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September 2026 figures, published 28 October–4 November 2026
The rate re-verified first-hand: The Bureau of Labor Statistics' own table for the South Bend–Mishawaka metropolitan area, extracted 30 October 2026, carries the September 2026 unemployment rate at 4.1 percent, preliminary and not seasonally adjusted — the same figure the Today portrait printed from release USDL-26-1618 of 28 October 2026, here confirmed against the bureau's running series, whose earlier 2026 months read 3.2 in April, 3.8 in May, 4.1 in June, and 4.2 in July and August. The bureau's South Bend Area Economic Summary, updated 4 November 2026, carries the structure the portrait printed: total nonfarm employment of 139,800 in September 2026, down 0.1 percent over the year, and an average weekly wage of $1,217 for the first quarter of 2026 against a national $1,654. The metro area is St. Joseph County, Indiana, with Cass County, Michigan, and the rate prints as the region's, never the city's.
No city rate, again: The banked discipline holds under re-verification. The settling publication would be the bureau's Local Area Unemployment Statistics city series read directly; until that pull is made, the record rests on the metro figure.
Sources:
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — South Bend–Mishawaka, IN–MI Economy at a Glance, data extracted 30 October 2026 (September 2026 unemployment rate 4.1 percent, preliminary, not seasonally adjusted; total nonfarm 139.8 thousand; the April–August 2026 rate series).
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — South Bend Area Economic Summary, updated 4 November 2026 (nonfarm employment and sectors, September 2026; average weekly wage, first quarter 2026); Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment, USDL-26-1618, 28 October 2026.
- Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED), BLS release calendar as published October 2026 — the next metropolitan release falls on 2 December 2026.