County jobless rate falls; state unchanged

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Van Wert County saw a decrease in unemployment rates in the month of December 2019, as did 28 other Ohio counties. However, 38 counties had increased unemployment, while the jobless rate stayed the same in 21 counties.

According to civilian labor force estimates released by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, in conjunction with the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, Van Wert County had a total workforce of approximately 14,900 in December, with approximately 14,400 people working, and another 500 unemployed, for an unemployment rate of 3.2 percent, down two-tenths of a percent from November’s 3.4 percent jobless rate.

Area counties, for the most part, saw unemployment either stay the same or decrease, with the exception of Putnam County, where unemployment increase a tenth of a percent, from 2.9 percent in November to 3.0 percent last month.

Mercer County again had the lowest unemployment in the area, and the state, at 2.5 percent, unchanged from November. Auglaize County’s December unemployment rate was also the same as November at 2.8 percent. Paulding County saw the biggest drop in unemployment, from 4.2 percent in November to 3.6 percent last month, while Allen County had the highest unemployment of the area at 3.8 percent, unchanged from November 2019.

Statewide, there were nine Ohio counties with unemployment rates at or below 3.0 percent. In addition to Mercer, Auglaize, and Putnam, those counties are as follows: Delaware and Holmes counties, 2.8 percent; Union and Wyandot counties, 2.9 percent; and Hancock and Medina counties, 3.0 percent.

On the high end, eight counties had jobless rates at or above 6.5 percent in December 2019. Those counties include the following: Monroe County, 8.9 percent; Morgan County, 7.7 percent; Noble County, 7.2 percent; Meigs County, 6.8 percent; and Adams, Coshocton, Jackson, and Ottawa, 6.6 percent.

Ohio’s adjusted unemployment rate for December, 3.8 percent, was unchanged from November. ODJFS statistics showed the state. The state added approximately 9,800 nonagricultural jobs in December, while those on unemployment decreased by 4,000, to 243,000.