County jobless percent unchanged

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

While other counties’ unemployment rates have been up and down, Van Wert County’s has remained the same for the past three months.

The county has maintained a 7.0 percent jobless rate since October 2012, while many counties around the state have been increasing. In fact, 67 of Ohio’s 88 counties saw their unemployment rate rise in December 2012, according to figures released Tuesday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. The comparable rate for Ohio as a whole was 6.6 percent.

As they did in November, total workforce and the estimated number of employed county residents dropped 100, while the number of unemployed stayed constant at 1,000. Those figures are compiled in cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the U.S. Department of Labor (click here for labor force estimates for all 88 counties).

Among neighboring counties, Mercer County was again the lowest (in the state as well) at 3.9 percent, unchanged from November, while Auglaize County was next at 4.8 percent, up a tenth of a percent from November. Putnam County was third lowest among neighboring counties at 5.4 percent, up from 5.1 percent the month prior, while Paulding County’s jobless rate in December remained the same as November at 6.2 percent. Allen County tied with Van Wert County for having the highest rate among neighboring counties at 7.0 percent, which was an increase of three-tenths of a percent over November’ unemployment figures (click here for a larger map with more information).

Statewide, Mercer County had the lowest rate, followed by Holmes County (4.2 percent), Delaware County (4.3 percent), Auglaize County, Union County (5.1 percent), Hancock County (5.2 percent), Franklin and Putnam counties (5.4 percent), and Wayne County (5.5 percent).

Pike County had the highest unemployment rate at 12.3 percent, followed by Adams and Morgan counties (11.1 percent), Meigs and Ottawa counties (10.9 percent), Jefferson County (10.6 percent), Huron and Scioto counties (10.3 percent) and Monroe and Vinton counties (10.1 percent).