March jobless figures show little change

VW independent/ODJFS information

Unemployment stayed pretty much the same in March as it was in February, with five of six area counties seeing slight decreases in their jobless rate last month. The lone exception was Paulding County, where unemployment increased three-tenths of a percent, from 5.1 percent in February to 5.4 percent last month.

Van Wert County showed a decrease in unemployment of a tenth of a person, from 4.6 percent in February to 4.5 percent last month.

According to labor statistics provided by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, in cooperation with the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of people employed in the county increased by 100 people, from 13,600 in February to 13,700 in March, while estimates of the number of people unemployed fell 100, from 700 people in February to 600 last month.

In neighboring counties, Mercer County again had the lowest unemployment rate at 3.6 percent, down from 3.7 percent in February. That was also good enough to tie with Delaware County for the lowest jobless rate in the state.

Auglaize County was next at 3.9 percent, down from 4.1 percent in February, while Putnam County, which was tied with Van Wert County in February, dropped two-tenths of a percent to 4.4 percent in March. Allen County’s unemployment showed the biggest decrease in the area, from 5.4 percent in February to 5.1 percent last month.

In fact, all area counties were either at or below the state’s unemployment rate of 5.4 percent in March.

Around the state, there were six counties that had unemployment rates at or below 4.0 percent, with Mercer and Delaware counties leading the way at 3.6 percent. Others with low unemployment included Holmes County (3.8 percent), Auglaize and Hancock counties (3.9 percent) and Wyandot County (4.0 percent).

Other the other end of the spectrum, Monroe County had the highest unemployment rate at 9.9 percent.  Only two other counties were above 9.0 percent in March. Those were Meigs County (9.5 percent) and Adams County (9.3 percent).