County unemployment rate falls in Sept.

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Van Wert County’s unemployment rate again decreased in September, according to information released Tuesday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

The county’s jobless rate fell three-tenths of a percent, from 3.5 percent in August to 3.2 percent last month, according to the ODJFS. According to estimated workforce statistics compiled by the ODJFS, in conjunction with the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the county’s total workforce in September was estimated at 14,300 people, down 200 from August’s 14,500 workers. Of those 13,900 were employed, a decrease of 100, from August’s 14,000, while an estimated 500 people were unemployed, the same as in August.

The county’s rate followed a trend of lower unemployment in all of Ohio’s 88 counties, according to the ODJFS, with unemployment ranging from a low of 2.5 percent in Mercer County to a high of 6.0 percent in Monroe County.

In addition to Mercer County, whose jobless rate was down two-tenths of a percent from August’s 2.7 percent, unemployment rates in neighboring counties included a jobless rate of 2.8 percent in Putnam County, decrease of two-tenths of a percent from August’s 3.0 percent; 3.0 percent in Auglaize County, down two-tenths of a percent from 3.2 percent in August; 3.7 percent in Paulding County, down three-tenths of a percent from 4.0 percent in August; and Allen County’s 4.0 percent, a decrease of two-tenths of a percent over August.

Statewide, five counties had jobless rates of 3.0 percent or lower. In addition to Mercer, Putnam, and Auglaize, those counties included Wyandot County, 2.9 percent; and Holmes County, 3.0 percent.

At the high end, seven counties had unemployment rates at or above 5.5 percent. In addition to Monroe County, they include Adams County, 5.9 percent; Scioto County, 5.8 percent; Trumbull County, 5.7 percent; Meigs and Pike counties, 5.6 percent; and Jefferson County, 5.5 percent.

The state’s comparable unemployment rate for September was 4.1 percent.