According to data released by The Department of Job and Family Services on January 28, Williams County saw a significant improvement in unemployment from November to December, with rates decreasing from 7.0% in November to 6.4% in December. This also brought improvement in the county’s overall ranking throughout the state as the county improved from 54th in the state to 52nd over the same amount of time. Unfortunately, the same does not hold true for Fulton County, who saw unemployment rates rise from 7.3% from 7.2% over the same amount of time and which resulted in the county falling from 32nd to 36th in the state wide ranking system.
In all, 75 of Ohio’s 88 counties saw improvement in their unemployment rates as the state wide rate also improved, falling from 7.4% in November to 7.2% in December. The national rate also saw improvement, falling from 7.0% in November to 6.7% in December.
Across Ohio, unemployment rates ranged from a low of 3.8% in Mercer County to a high of 14.6% in Monroe County. Counties with the lowest rates throughout Ohio in December included Mercer (3.8%), Holmes (4.3%), Auglaize (4.6%), Delaware (4.6%), and Union (4.8%). Counties with the highest rates included Monroe (14.6%), Pike (11.7%), Ottawa (11.5%), Morgan (11.1%), Meigs (10.9%), Huron (10.8%), Scioto (10.8%), and Adams (10.5%).
The lowered rates across the state saw the number of unemployed fall 11,000, down from 427,000 in November to 416,000 in December. 5600 jobs were gained in goods producing positions, which saw construction (+4000), manufacturing (+1400), and mining and logging (+200) industries all adding jobs. However, the private service providing sector saw a net loss in jobs. While the professional and business services (+3400) and leisure and hospitality (+2400) industries saw growth, that growth was outweighed by losses in education and health services (-3700); trade, transportation, and utilities (-1500); information (-400); financial activities (-200); and other services (-200). Government jobs also saw a net decline with the rise of federal (+200) and local (+100) jobs being outweighed by the loss of state (-700) jobs.
Ohioans wishing to learn more about unemployment benefits or who are in search of a job can visit www.ohiomeansjobs.com. This information in this article and the monthly statistical summaries it is based on are also available at http://jfs.ohio.gov/ocomm.