Toledo, Lucas County unemployment rates improve in year

3/11/2014
BLADE STAFF

The estimated unemployment rate for Lucas County was 8.2 percent in January, down two full percentage points from last year, state officials said Tuesday.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services said Toledo's unemployment rate also improved from last year. In January the citywide unemployment rate was 8.6 percent, down from 10.8 percent last year.

Unemployment rates for both Toledo and Lucas County were higher in January than in December. But because the rates are not seasonally adjusted, economists say year-over-year comparisons give a truer indication of what is happening in job markets.

Ohio's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January was 6.9 percent. 

The state said January unemployment rates also fell from last year in Fulton, Ottawa and Wood counties, though all three counties' rates were up from December.

At 6.8 percent, Wood County's January rate was the lowest in the area. Ottawa County was the area's highest at 12.1 percent, though that county's rate spikes every winter as the weather cools tourism jobs. Fulton County's rate was 8.6 percent.