Jobless rates rise throughout Ohio from May to June
Lucas County at 8.5%, Toledo at 9.3%
7/23/2013Unemployment rates jumped throughout Ohio in June as students finished classes and joined the job market.
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services released data for 20 cities and all 88 counties on Tuesday, and the unemployment rate was up in every jurisdiction.
In addition to an influx of students, circumstantial evidence indicates that improvement in the economy over the last several months has caused more people to join the work force. Only people who are actively looking for jobs are counted as unemployed.
The numbers are not seasonally adjusted, and state officials say it’s not necessarily fair to compare month-to-month changes; a better comparison is year-over-year.
According to the state, the June unemployment rate in Lucas County was 8.5 percent, up from 8 percent in May and up from 8.3 percent in June, 2012. The rate was up similarly in Toledo, jumping to 9.3 percent in June from 8.7 percent in May. In June, 2012, Toledo’s unemployment rate was 8.9 percent.
Toledo’s labor force grew by 1,600 from May to June. The number of unemployed grew by 1,300, which indicates 300 jobs were added.
In Wood County, the June rate was 7.5 percent, up from 7 percent in May. Wood County’s unemployment rate in June, 2012, also was 7.5 percent.
In Fulton County, the June unemployment rate was 7.9 percent, up from 7.4 percent in May and 7.1 percent in June, 2012. In Ottawa County, the June rate was 8 percent, up from 7.8 percent in May, but lower than June, 2012, when the unemployment rate was 8.2 percent.
Among counties, jobless rates ranged from a low of 4.6 percent in Mercer County on the Indiana border to a high of 12.7 percent in Meigs County, along the Ohio River in the southeastern part of the state.
The statewide, seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, announced Friday, rose in June to 7.2 percent, up from 7 percent the previous two months. That’s the highest it has been in Ohio since August of last year.
Contact Chip Towns at: ctowns@theblade.com or 419-724-6194.