Unemployment drops across state for March

Wood Co. has lowest rate at 5.8%

4/22/2014

Unemployment rates fell in all 88 of Ohio’s counties last month, according to data released by the state Tuesday.

The jobless rates in Toledo and Lucas County continued to show considerable improvement from last year.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services said Toledo’s estimated unemployment rate for March was 7 percent, down from 9.4 percent a year earlier. In Lucas County, the March rate was 6.6 percent, down from 8.8 percent last year.

Both rates were also down slightly from February, though because the estimates are not seasonally adjusted, officials caution against comparing one month to the next. The number of employed people was unchanged from February in both the county and city. The number of unemployed people fell, which means people either found jobs, moved, or quit looking for work. People are only counted as unemployed if they are actively seeking a job.

Wood County again had the area’s lowest unemployment rate at 5.8 percent. The state said Wood County’s unemployment rate in February was 6.3 percent. In March, 2013, Wood County's unemployment rate was 7.4 percent.

Erie County’s unemployment rate was 6.7 percent in March, down from 7.7 percent in February and 8.3 percent in March, 2013. In Ottawa County, where a significant portion of the economy is based on summer tourism, the March unemployment rate was 10.2 percent, down from 11.3 percent in February and 12.2 percent in March, 2013.

The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for March was 6.1 percent, the lowest level in six years. However, employment growth last month was tepid, with employers adding a net of just 600 jobs.

Mercer County, which borders Indiana, had the state’s lowest unemployment rate in March at 3.7 percent. Monroe County, along the Ohio River in the southeastern part of the state, had the highest rate at 12.5 percent.