County unemployment rate down in Feb.

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

What goes up will (hopefully) come down, especially when we’re talking about unemployment rates in Van Wert County. Thankfully, after a rise of eight-tenths of a percent from December 2011 to January of this year, the county saw the jobless rate decline three-tenths of a percent in February — from 9.0 percent to 8.7 percent — according to figures released Tuesday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

In addition, after a loss of 300 people from its workforce in January (12,800 to 12,500), workforce numbers gained 100 people in February, bringing the total county workforce to 12,600. The number of people unemployed remained the same at 1,200.

The trend was one seen across the state, in which 65 of Ohio’s 88 counties experienced a decline in unemployment in February.

Neighboring Mercer County again had the lowest unemployment rate in the state at 5.5 percent, a decrease of a tenth of a percent from January, while other counties with unemployment rates at or below 7.0 percent included Delaware, 5.8 percent; Holmes, 6.1 percent; Union, 6.5 percent; and Auglaize, 7.0 percent.

Seven counties also had jobless rates at or above 13.0 percent. Those included Pike, 15.7 percent; Morgan and Ottawa, 14.3 percent; Meigs, 13.8 percent; Adams and Huron, 13.2 percent; and Noble, 13.0 percent (click here for a PDF of the map, with additional information).

Among neighboring counties, Auglaize County’s 7.0 percent jobless rate was the same as in January, while Allen County’s unemployment rate dropped three-tenths of a percent, from 9.5 to 9.2 percent; Paulding County saw a decrease of three-tenths of a percent, from 8.5 to 8.2 percent, and Putnam County’s jobless rate remained the same as in January at 8.1 percent.

As a whole, Ohio also saw a decrease in unemployment in February, from 7.7 percent in January to 7.6 percent this past month.

Moreover, other than Allen County, local counties were all under the U.S. unemployment rate of 8.8 percent in February.