County follows state jobless rate trend

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Most Ohio counties, including Van Wert County, saw a decrease in unemployment for the month of August, according to workforce estimates released this week by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Unemployment rates decreased in 72 of Ohio’s 88 counties, with jobless rates staying the same in 15 counties, and increasing in just one county (Lucas County).

In Van Wert County, unemployment decreased four-tenths of a percent, from 4.3 percent in July to 3.7 percent last month. According to labor force estimates compiled by the ODJFS, with assistance from the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the county’s workforce stayed the same as in July at 14,600 people, while the number of people employed rose 100, 14,100, and the total of unemployed workers fell 100, to 500.

Unemployment in the county was also down a tenth of a percent from last August’s 4.8 percent estimate.

Among neighboring counties, Mercer County had the lowest unemployment rate locally and across the state, at 3.0 percent, down a tenth of a percent from July’s estimate of 3.1 percent. Putnam County had the second lowest unemployment rate at 3.2 percent, down two-tenths of a percent from July’s 3.5 percent, while Auglaize County was third at 3.5 percent, down two-tenths of a percent from 3.7 percent in July. Van Wert County was the fourth lowest, while Paulding County was next at 4.2 percent, down a tenth from 4.3 percent in July, and Allen County had the highest rate among neighboring counties at 4.6 percent, which was seven-tenths of a percent lower than July’s 5.3 percent unemployment rate.

Statewide, Mercer County had the lowest jobless rate, followed by Putnam County, Holmes County (3.3 percent), Delaware and Wyandot counties (3.4 percent), and Auglaize, Hancock, Madison, and Union counties at 3.5 percent.

At the other end of the spectrum, Monroe County had the highest unemployment rate, at 9.0 percent, while four other counties had jobless rates above 7.0 percent in August. They were Meigs County (7.6 percent), Jefferson County (7.4 percent), Noble County (7.2 percent), and Scioto County (7.1 percent).

The comparable unemployment rate for Ohio was 4.7 percent in August.