August unemployment numbers lower

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Van Wert County, along with 81 other Ohio counties, saw a decrease in the unemployment rate in August, according to figures released recently by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Van Wert County’s jobless rate fell from 3.6 percent in July to 3.2 percent in August, according to the ODJFS. Statistically, according to labor estimates from the ODJFS, in cooperation with the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, county workforce numbers fell 100 people, from 15,500 in July to 15,400 in August, while the number of county residents employed remained at 14,900 in August, the same as the month before. Unemployment decreased from 600 in July to 500 in August.

All five neighboring counties also saw unemployment fall in August, with Mercer County’s jobless rate decreasing from 2.9 percent in July to 2.7 percent in August, the smallest decrease among neighboring states, but still the lowest unemployment percentage in the state.

Putnam County had the second-lowest unemployment rate among neighboring counties at 3.0 percent, down four-tenths of a percent from 3.4 percent in July. Auglaize County was at 3.1 percent, down three-tenths of a percent from July’s jobless rate. Van Wert County was third, followed by Paulding County at 3.9 percent, down a half-percent from July’s 4.4 percent, while Allen County had a jobless rate of 4.2 percent in August, down six-tenths of a percent from 4.8 percent in July.

Across the state, three counties, including Mercer and Auglaize counties, had unemployment rates at 3.0 percent and below. The other county was Wyandot, which was at 3.0 percent.

On the high end, Monroe County had the highest unemployment rate at 7.4 percent, with two other counties also having jobless percentages at or above 6.5 percent for July. Other counties with higher unemployment rates in August were Meigs County at 7.0 percent and Adams County, at 6.6 percent.

For comparable unemployment rate for Ohio was 4.2 percent in August.