By: Chelsie Firestone
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
Despite the state seeing a slight rise from 5.1% to 5.2% in its unemployment rate through the month of April, all 88 of its counties actually reported a drop in unemployment. Williams County, at 4.1%, is now back to the rate it held in December 2014, returning the county to its mark prior to the most recent unemployment spike. Fulton County has also seen vast improvement, falling to 4.7%, a mark down even from its 5.1% position in December. The current rates leave Williams County in 64th and Fulton County in 41st in the statewide ranking system, which ranks counties from highest to lowest.
With the slight rise in the state numbers, the number of Ohioans unemployed grew from 294,000 to 297,000. This is down from 336,000, with a 5.9% percentage rate, one year ago. The national unemployment rate dropped in April, down to 5.4% from 5.5% in March and 6.2% one year ago.
Statewide, unemployment rates ranged from a low of 2.9% to a high of 8.5%. Counties with the lowest rates included Mercer (2.9%), Delaware (3.1%), Holmes (3.1%), Hancock (3.3%), Wyandot (3.3%), Auglaize (3.5%), Union (3.5%), and Wayne (3.5%). Those with the highest rates included Monroe (8.5%), Meigs (7.7%), Adams (7.1%), and Scioto (7.1%).
Job gains were seen in manufacturing (+5200), professional and business services (+4700), education and health services (+2700), information (+1100), federal government (+800), state government (+200), and financial activities (+100). Losses were seen in local government (-3200); trade, transportation, and utilities (-1800); leisure and hospitality (-1300); construction (-1000); other services (-1000); and mining and logging (-100).
Statewide, unemployment rates ranged from as low as 4.2% to as high as 11.2%. Counties with the lowest rates included Delaware (4.2%), Mercer (4.2%), Holmes (4.4%), Hancock (4.6%), Auglaize (4.7%), and Union (4.7%). Counties with the highest rates included Adams (11.2%), Monroe (11.1%), Meigs (10.7%), Huron (10.3%), Ottawa (10.2%), and Pike (10.0%).
Ohioans wishing to learn more about unemployment benefits or who are in search of a job can visit www.ohiomeansjobs.com. The information in this article and the monthly statistical analysis it is based upon are also available at http://jfs.ohio.gov/ocomm
Chelsie can be reached at
chelsie@thevillagereporter.com