County, Ohio unemployment rises in Dec.

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Van Wert County unemployment increased a bit in December 2017, following a statewide trend that saw all but one Ohio county experience higher unemployment.

According to workforce information released Tuesday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Van Wert County’s December unemployment rate was 3.8 percent, up four-tenths of a percent from November’s 3.4 percent jobless rate.

Workforce estimates provided by the ODJFS, in conjunction with the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, show the county labor force declined 200 workers, from 14,300 in November to 14,100 last month, with the number employed also declining by the same number, from an estimated 13,800 in November to 13,600 in December. Unemployment remained the same, at 500 people.

Van Wert County also was no longer one of the lowest 10 counties in unemployment, falling to 13th in the state in December.

Neighboring counties all followed the same trend. Mercer County remained the county with the lowest unemployment rate in Ohio at 2.8 percent, up a tenth of a percent from November’s 2.7 percent jobless rate. Auglaize County was second at 3.3 percent, up two-tenths of a percent from 3.1 percent in November, while Putnam County saw the biggest increase in unemployment with a jump of a half-percent from November’s 3.0 percent to 3.5 percent in December. Van Wert County was fourth, while Paulding County increased two-tenths of a percent, from 3.8 percent in November to 4.0 percent last month.

Allen County again had the highest unemployment rate in the area at 4.5 percent, up three-tenths of a percent from November’s 4.2 percent.

Statewide, Mercer, Auglaize, and Putnam counties were among the nine counties that had unemployment rates of 3.5 percent or lower. Other counties in that category were Holmes County at 3.1 percent; Delaware County, 3.2 percent; Hancock and Madison counties, 3.4 percent; and Union and Wyandot counties, 3.5 percent.

At the high end of the unemployment spectrum was Monroe County, with December unemployment at 8.8 percent. Four other counties had unemployment of 7.0 percent or above in December. They include Meigs County, 8.4 percent; Noble County, 8.1 percent; and Morgan and Ottawa counties, 7.9 percent.

The comparable unemployment rate for Ohio was 4.5 percent in December.