Plenty of positives in April jobless report

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

The state saw much improved employment figures in April, with a total of 11 Ohio counties, including Van Wert County, having unemployment rates at or below 2.5 percent last month, according to labor figures released by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Only seven counties had unemployment rates at or below 3 percent in March, a full half-percent higher than any of the lowest 11 counties in April. All 88 Ohio counties saw jobless rates increase in April, according to the ODJFS.

Perhaps even more improvement was seen on the high end, where unemployment dipped from a high of 9.1 percent in March to 6.9 percent last month.

In Van Wert County, labor force figures compiled by the ODJFS, in conjunction with the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, showed a total of workforce of 14,500 people, the same as in March, but with 14,100 people employed, up 100 from March’s 14,000, and 400 people unemployed, down from 500 in March.

All neighboring counties had an unemployment rate at or below 3 percent in April. Mercer County was at 1.9 percent last month, down from 2.4 percent in March; Auglaize County was at 2.3 percent, down from 2.8 percent in March; Van Wert and Putnam counties were both at 2.5 percent, with both down six-tenths of a percent from March’s shared 3.1 percent unemployment. Paulding County saw a jobless rate of 2.7 percent, down from 3.4 percent in March, while Allen County was at 3.0 percent in April, down nearly a point from March’s 3.9 percent.

Across the state, the 11 Ohio counties with unemployment at or below 2.5 percent, in addition to Mercer, Auglaize, Van Wert, and Putnam counties, were Holmes County, 2.1 percent; Wyandot County, 2.2 percent; Delaware and Union counties at 2.3 percent; Hancock and Wayne counties at 2.4 percent; and Williams County at 2.5 percent.

Only one other county other than Monroe County had an unemployment rate at or above 5.5 percent. That was Meigs County, at 5.5 percent.

The state’s comparable rate was 3.3 percent, while none of the numbers are seasonally adjusted.