The unemployment rate in Highland County fell in March to 4.9 percent, a fall of 0.7 percent from the previous month, according to figures released Tuesday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS).
The ODJFS said the labor force in Highland County has 17,600 workers, with 16,800 members of the force employed and 900 unemployed. The numbers are not seasonally adjusted.
Of the 88 counties in Ohio, Highland County is ranked 27th in terms of the highest unemployment rate in the state, tied with three other counties.
Seasonal adjustment, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, is a “statistical technique that attempts to measure and remove the influences of predictable seasonal patterns to reveal how employment and unemployment change from month to month.”
It considers the changes in labor market activity because of seasonal events like weather, harvests and major holidays. Because the seasonal events are mostly the same every year, the change in the trends can be eliminated by seasonally adjusting the statistics from month to month. The adjustments allow people to see the underlying trends and other nonseasonal movements, ODJFS said.
The county unemployment rates in Ohio ranged from a low of 2.6 percent in Holmes County to a high of 7.9 percent in Lorain County.
The state had five counties at or below 3.0 percent unemployment in March: Holmes County at 2.6 percent, Mercer County at 2.7 percent, Delaware County at 2.8 percent, Union County at 2.9 percent and Auglaize County at 3.0 percent.
The state had five counties at or above 6.5 percent unemployment in March: Lorain County at 7.9 percent, Monroe County at 6.9 percent, Cuyahoga County at 6.8 percent, Sandusky County at 6.7 percent and Huron County at 6.5 percent.
According to ODJFS, unemployment decreased in 81 counties, increased in six and didn’t change in one county in March.
Of the six counties contiguous to Highland County, Fayette County had 4.0 percent unemployment in March, Ross County had 4.0 percent, Clinton County had 4.4 percent, Brown County had 4.7 percent, Pike County had 5.5 percent and Adams County had 5.6 percent.
Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.
