County unemployment rate falls in August

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Van Wert County saw its unemployment fall seven-tenths of a percent, good enough to make it one of 11 counties with the lowest jobless rate in the state.

The county, which saw unemployment fall from 4.7 percent in July to 4 percent in August, followed a statewide trend across Ohio that saw 75 of its 88 counties have declining unemployment rates last month, compared to just five counties with higher jobless rates during the same period.

Statistically, according to labor force estimates provided by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, in conjunction with the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, Van Wert County’s labor force remained the same at 14,400 people, while those employed rose 100, from 13,800 to 13,900, and those unemployed fell 100, from 700 in July to 600 last month.

Mercer County again had the lowest unemployment rate in the area, and the state, at 3.2 percent, down three-tenths of a percent from July’s 3.5 percent. Among neighboring counties, Putnam County was next at 3.6 percent, down four-tenths of a percent from 4 percent even in July, while Auglaize County was third among neighboring counties at 3.9 percent, down three-tenths of a percent from 4.2 percent two months ago. Van Wert County was fourth, followed by Paulding County at 4.8 percent, down two-tenths of a percent from July’s rate of 5 percent, while Allen County had the highest unemployment rate among neighboring counties at 5.1 percent, but was eight-tenths of a percent lower than July’s 5.9 percent.

Statewide, Van Wert County and three neighboring counties — Mercer, Auglaize, and Putnam — were all among the 11 counties with the lowest unemployment rate in Ohio. Others included Holmes County, 3.5 percent; Wyandot County, 3.7 percent; Delaware County, 3.8 percent; and Madison and Wayne counties, 4.0 percent.

Meigs County had the highest unemployment rate in the state at 8.5 percent, while seven other counties had jobless rates at or above 7 percent in August. In addition to Meigs, those counties include Monroe County, 7.8 percent; Lorain County, 7.3 percent; Scioto County 7.1 percent; and Adams, Coshocton, Cuyahoga, and Jefferson counties at 7 percent even.

Ohio’s comparable unemployment rate was 5.3 percent in August.