County unemployment falls to 6-year low

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

It was another positive unemployment report for Van Wert County, as the county saw its lowest jobless rates since 2008 in February.

The county saw unemployment drop to 6.0 percent in February, giving it the 13th lowest unemployment rate in Ohio. The decrease, from 6.5 percent in January, is a big improvement over the double-digit unemployment seen a few years ago in the midst of recession.

The news wasn’t completely positive, though. Even with unemployment dropping another 100 people, according to statistics provided by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, in conjunction with the U.S Labor Departments Bureau of Labor Statistics, the county also saw an erosion of its workforce. Workforce totals for the county dropped another 100 people in February, to 13,500, on top of a decrease of 300 people in January (from 13,900 to 13,600). Those figures, if accurate, indicate the county is losing population because people can’t find jobs locally.

The news was also good in neighboring counties. Mercer County again had the lowest unemployment rate in the area – and in the state – dropping a tenth of a percent to 4.3 percent in February. Auglaize County saw a decrease from 5.0 percent to 4.7 percent, while Putnam County’s unemployment rate decreased from January’s 6.6 percent to 6.3 percent in February. Paulding County saw its unemployment decrease from 6.8 percent in January to 6.4 percent this past month, while Allen County’s jobless rate decreased six-tenths of a percent, from 7.6 percent to 7.0 percent in February.

Statewide, unemployment decreased in 86 of Ohio’s 88 counties and stayed even in the other two counties. Mercer County had the lowest unemployment rate, followed by Delaware and Holmes counties (4.6 percent), Auglaize County, Union and Hancock (5.2 percent), and Franklin County (5.4 percent).

On the other end of the scale, Monroe County had the highest jobless rate at 14.2 percent, while four other counties had unemployment rates of 12 percent or above. Those include Meigs and Pike counties (12.3 percent) and Morgan County (12.0 percent).