The Van Wert County Courthouse

Thursday, Mar. 28, 2024

County jobless rate unchanged in Nov.

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Van Wert County again bucked the statewide trend when it comes to unemployment rates, according to figures released Friday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

In October, the county was one of the few where the jobless rate increased, while in November, when three-fourths of Ohio’s counties (66 of 88) saw a rate hike, Van Wert County’s rates stayed at 7 percent — the same as in October.

The rate compares positively, though, to a year ago, when the county had an unemployment rate of 8.1 percent.

While unemployment stayed the same, at 1,000, both the county’s total labor workforce (14,100) and total employed (13,100) went down 100, according to figures compiled in cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor.

Elsewhere in the area, Mercer County still had the lowest unemployment rate in the state, but it was a tenth of a percent higher in November, at 3.9 percent. Auglaize County’s jobless rate also remained the same at 4.7 percent, while Putnam County’s unemployment rose a tenth of a percent in November, to 5.0 percent (click here for a unemployment rate map with more information).

Paulding County saw an increase of three-tenths of a percent in November, from 5.9 percent to 6.2 percent, while Allen County’s unemployment rate also rose, from 6.6 percent to 6.7 percent this past month.

Statewide, 10 counties had jobless rates of 5.5 percent or below, led by Mercer County. Holmes County was at 4.2 percent, followed by Delaware at 4.5 percent, Auglaize and Putnam counties, then Hancock and Union counties at 5.1 percent, Wayne County at 5.4 percent, and Franklin and Geauga at 5.5 percent (click here to see civilian labor force estimates for all of Ohio’s 88 counties).

On the high end, eight counties had unemployment rates of 9.5 percent or above in November, with the highest being Pike County, at 11.9 percent, followed by, in order, Meigs (10.4 percent), Jefferson (9.9 percent), Adams, Monroe and Scioto at 9.8 percent, Morgan (9.7 percent) and Ottawa (9.5 percent).

The adjusted statewide unemployment rate was 6.5 percent.

POSTED: 12/29/12 at 8:44 am. FILED UNDER: News