Both Williams and Fulton Counties saw a significant improvement in their unemployment rates between July and August. Williams County dropped from 5.7% to 5.0% over the course of the month and Fulton County from 6.1% to 5.0% in the same time frame. This marks one of the largest gains for both counties, particularly Fulton County, in some time and is also the first time in quite a while that the counties have had comparable rates. This improvement moved Fulton County up 13 spots from 36th to 49th in the state rankings. However, Williams County fell from 50th to 48th in the same rankings. Williams County’s fall can most likely be attributed to decreasing unemployment rates in all of Ohio’s 88 counties.
However, while all of these statistics suggest that statewide unemployment rates should have seen the same improvement, Ohio’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.7%, with 200 jobs gained but 1000 more on unemployment, over the course of the month. The national unemployment rate did better, decreasing from 6.2% to 6.1%. All rates are better than they were 12 months ago when Ohio’s rate was 7.5% and the U.S. rate was at 7.2%.
Statewide, unemployment ranged from a low of 3.0% in Mercer County to a high of 10.7% in Monroe County. Counties in Ohio with the lowest rates included Mercer (3.0%), Holmes (3.4%), Auglaize (3.6%), Delaware (3.8%), Hancock (4.0%) and Putnam (4.0%). Counties with the highest rates included Monroe (10.7%), Meigs (8.1%), Pike (7.8%), Scioto (7.6%), Jefferson (7.2%), Morgan (7.2%), and Cuyahoga (7.0%).
Throughout the state, job growth was seen in local government (+8700), education and health services (+2700), professional and business services (+1200), manufacturing (+1100), and federal government (+100). Losses were seen in trade, transportation, and utilities (-6600); construction (-3500); other services (-1100); financial activities (-700); state government (-600); information (-600); and leisure and hospitality (-500).
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.