VW County jobless rate falls below 3.5%

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Van Wert County remained one of the 10 Ohio counties with the lowest unemployment in November, according to estimates reported by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

According to the ODJFS, the county’s unemployment was 3.4 percent in November, down three-tenths of a percent from October’s 3.7 percent jobless rate.

Statistically, estimates provided by the ODJFS, in conjunction with the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, showed local estimates remained pretty much the same, with the county’s labor force estimated at 14,300, with 13,800 of those workers employed, and just 500 people unemployed.

Several neighboring counties were also among those counties with the lowest unemployment rate in the state. Mercer County again had the lowest unemployment in the state at 2.7 percent, down a tenth of a percent from October’s 2.8 percent, while Putnam County was second in the area at 3.0 percent, which remained the same as October’s rate. Auglaize County was third at 3.1 percent, a decrease of two-tenths of a percent from October’s rate of 3.3 percent. Van Wert was fourth, followed by Paulding County at 3.8 percent, down three-tenths of a percent from 4.1 percent in October, and Allen County, which had a jobless rate of 4.2 percent in November, down three-tenths of a percent from October’s 4.5 percent.

Statewide, unemployment decreased in 65 of Ohio’s 88 counties, with joblessness rising in 15 counties and unemployment remaining the same in eight counties.

There were 13 counties with unemployment rates under 3.5 percent, including Mercer, Putnam, Auglaize, and Van Wert counties, as well as Holmes County at 3.0 percent, Delaware, Hancock, and Wyandot counties at 3.1 percent, Madison and Union counties at 3.3 percent; and Franklin, Logan, and Wayne counties at 3.5 percent.

On the other end of the equation, eight counties had unemployment rates at or above 6.0 percent. Those included Monroe County at 7.2 percent, Meigs County at 6.8 percent, Noble County at 6.7 percent; Ottawa County at 6.6 percent; Jefferson County at 6.2 percent; Morgan and Scioto counties at 6.1 percent; and Jackson County at 6.0 percent.

The comparable unemployment for Ohio overall was 4.2 percent.