VWCO has very low jobless rate

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

COLUMBUS — Figures released on Tuesday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services show Van Wert County ended 2023 with one of the lowest unemployment rates in the state.

According to ODJFS, Van Wert County’s December jobless rate was just 2.3 percent, tied for fourth lowest with Auglaize County. It was the county’s lowest jobless rate for the year. A monthly report notes Van Wert County had a labor force of 14,600 people, with 14,300 of them employed.

Neighboring Mercer County had Ohio’s lowest unemployment rate in December, just 1.8 percent. Holmes County, in eastern Ohio had the second lowest rate, 2.1 percent and Wyandot County was third lowest at 2.2 percent.

Putnam, Hancock, Delaware and Wayne counties tied for Ohio’s sixth lowest jobless rate, 2.4 percent. Paulding, Darke, Medina, Union and Warren counties tied for 10th lowest, 2.6 percent.

Allen and Defiance counties had the same jobless rate last month, 3.0 percent.

Counties with the highest unemployment rate to end 2023 were southeast Ohio’s Monroe County, 5.8 percent, Ottawa County in northwest Ohio, 5.5 percent, and three other southeast Ohio counties – Meigs County (5.3 percent), Noble County (5.1 percent) and Adams County (4.9 percent). A full ranking report can be found here.

Ohio’s unemployment rate was 3.7 percent in December, up from 3.6 percent in November. Ohio’s nonagricultural wage and salary employment increased 7,000 over the month, from a revised 5,654,100 in November to 5,661,100 in December. This marks the highest payroll employment reported since the series started in 1990.