Van Wert County still has low jobless rate

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

COLUMBUS — The latest figures from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services indicate Van Wert County has one of the state’s lowest employment rates, and the area in general has fared well compared to the statewide average.

The county’s July jobless rate was 3.4 percent, tied for ninth lowest in Ohio with Hancock and Madison counties. The formula used by the state shows Van Wert County has a workforce of 15,000 workers with just 500 considered unemployed in July. The county’s June unemployment rate was 3.5 percent.

Mercer County had Ohio’s lowest unemployment rate last month, 2.7 percent. Holmes County, in northeast Ohio was second at 2.8 percent and Putnam County had the third lowest jobless rate, 2.9 percent. Auglaize, Wyandot and Delaware counties tied for fourth lowest, 3.2 percent, while Wayne and Union counties were tied for eighth at 3.3 percent.

Along with Mercer, Putnam and Auglaize counties, Paulding County’s July unemployment rate was 3.7 percent while Allen County’s was 4.3 percent, above the Ohio average of 3.9 percent.

The 10 counties with the highest jobless rate last month were Cuyahoga, Lorain and Huron counties, 5.5 percent; Crawford County, 5.7 percent; Athens and Noble counties, 5.8 percent; Jefferson and Meigs counties, 6.0 percent; Monroe County, 6.3 percent, and Marion County, 6.4 percent.

August unemployment rates and nonagricultural wage and salary data for Ohio will be released by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services on Friday, September 16, followed by city and county rates on Tuesday, September 20.

In related news, Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) Director Matt Damschroder recently provided a quarterly update on unemployment overpayments made over the course of the pandemic.

The overpayments are attributable to both fraudulent and non-fraudulent activity in both the traditional unemployment and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) programs. They include any weekly monetary add-ons claimants received, called Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation.

As of June 30, ODJFS had identified approximately $6.7 billion in fraud and non-fraud overpayments. This includes:

• $104 million in fraudulent overpayments in the traditional unemployment system.
• $1 billion in fraudulent PUA overpayments.
• $831 million in non-fraud overpayments in the traditional unemployment system.
• $4.8 billion in non-fraud PUA overpayments.