The number of people without work remains high in Williams and Fulton counties.
Based on the new report from the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, Fulton County’s seasonally unadjusted rates was 6.2 percent for February. Williams County stood at 5.1 percent.
The rates were good enough to place Fulton at 44th highest in Ohio and Williams at 61st.
The state’s rate was 5.1 percent (seasonally adjusted), up from 5.0 in January. The national rate 4.7 percent, 0.1 percentage points lower than in January.
Ohio’s nonagricultural wage and salary employment increased 15,200 over the month, from a revised 5,506,800 in January to 5,522,000 in February, according to the latest business establishment survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor (Bureau of Labor Statistics) in cooperation with ODJFS.
The number of workers unemployed in Ohio in February was 294,000, up 7,000 from 287,000 in January. The number of unemployed has increased by 9,000 in the past 12 months from 285,000. The February unemployment rate for Ohio was up from 5.0 percent in February 2016.
Employment in goods-producing industries, at 921,600, increased 7,000 over the month. Job gains in construction (+6,300) and manufacturing (+900) outweighed job losses in mining and logging (-200). The private service-providing sector, at 3,828,700, increased 9,200.
Employment gains in leisure and hospitality (+4,000), educational and health services (+3,900), trade, transportation, and utilities (+2,000), and professional and business services (+100) surpassed losses in financial activities (-400), information (-300), and other services (-100).
Government employment, at 771,700, decreased 1,000 as losses in state government (-3,100) exceeded gains in local (+1,800) and federal (+300) government.
From February 2016 to February 2017, nonagricultural wage and salary employment grew 45,400. Employment in goods-producing industries increased 13,900. Construction added 8,900 jobs. Manufacturing added 5,700 jobs as gains in nondurable goods (+7,200) surpassed losses in durable goods (-1,500). Mining and logging lost 700 jobs. The private service-providing sector added 36,100 jobs. Employment gains in educational and health services (+13,600), trade, transportation, and utilities (+9,900), financial activities (+6,700), leisure and hospitality (+5,200), professional and business services (+1,700), and information (+600) exceeded losses in other services (-1,600). Government employment decreased 4,600 as losses in state (-3,800) and local (-1,500) government outweighed gains in federal government (+700).