Williams County’s unemployment remained the same in December that it was in October, 6.8%. Fulton County, on the other hand, saw its unemployment percentage jump from 6.2% in October to 7.6% in December. Over the same time period the state of Ohio saw an overall drop in unemployment from 6.9% to 6.7%. The number of unemployed workers dropped by a mere 8,000 from 396,000 to 388, 000 which is still a 70,000 person decrease from the 458,000 unemployed in December of 2011.
Fulton County closes out the year 2012 at number 26 in the statewide ranking report compared to the 50th spot the county enjoyed in October. Williams County moved eight spots from 37th to 45th spot on the ranking list.
Fulton County was not alone in its increased unemployment numbers as 67 of Ohio’s 88 counties saw unemployment increases. Mercer County retains the lowest unemployment percentage at 3.9% while Pike County continues to languish at the #1 spot with 12.3% unemployment.
Nine counties, including Mercer, had unemployment rates at or below 5.5%. They are: Holmes, 4.2; Delaware, 4.3; Auglaize, 4.8; Union, 5.1; Hancock, 5.2; Franklin and Putnam, 5.4; and Wayne, 5.5 percent.
Ten counties, including Pike, were at or above 10% unemployment in December. They are: Adams and Morgan, 11.1; Meigs and Ottawa, 10.9; Jefferson, 10.6; Huron and Scioto, 10.3; and Monroe and Vinton, 10.1 percent.
January 2013 unemployment rates and nonagricultural wage and salary data for Ohio will be released by ODJFS on Friday, March 8, 2013. County, city and metropolitan area unemployment rates will be available on Tuesday, March 26, 2013. This information and the monthly statistical summaries it is based on are also available at http://ohiolmi.com/laus/releases.htm.