LIMA — Six area counties saw unemployment rise with two remaining the same and one moving down. Allen County led the area with a 0.2-percent increase in the area moving from 4.3 in July to 4.5 in August, placing Allen County at the 35th highest out of 88 counties for unemployment rate.
Allen and Hardin counties are the only counties in the area whose unemployment numbers exceed the state level of 4.0 percent and the national unemployment figure of 3.7 percent. Despite that high number, however, Hardin County is the only county in the region to see a decrease in the county unemployment rate, dropping from 5 percent in July to 4.8 percent in August. The unemployment rates in Putnam and Van Wert counties were unchanged from the month before.
All 50 states had jobless rates decrease from a year earlier.
Mercer County led the area last month with an unemployment rate of 2.8 percent, also making it the lowest rate in the state, followed closely by Putnam County which can boast a rate of 2.9 percent, the third-lowest unemployment rate by county in Ohio. Auglaize County had the sixth-lowest unemployment rate in Ohio at 3.3 percent, although it was still 0.1 percent higher than in July.
Unemployment rates were higher in August in 16 states and stable in 34 states and the District of Columbia, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.
The national unemployment rate rose to 3.7 percent over the month but was 1.5 percentage points lower than in August 2021.
Reach Dean Brown at 567-242-0409.
