Eric Burnette, Director of Labor Market Intelligence, KentuckianaWorks

The regional economy continues to perform very well, as it has for the last three years. The latest local unemployment rate of 3.6% is better than any January number since 1999. Louisville is now 8 years removed from the bottom of the Great Recession, when the January 2010 unemployment rate hit 11%. 

One note of caution we have picked up lately is that employers' online job postings (a rough proxy for the number of open jobs) have tapered off since last year. It's too early to say for sure whether this trend, which mirrors a national trend, is significant in the long term; but it's consistent enough not to be a random fluctuation. We will keep you posted on how this develops over the coming months.