The unemployment rate in Highland County fell in March to 5.9 percent according to figures released by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS).
The ODJFS said the labor force in Highland County has 17,700 workers, with 16,700 members of the force employed and 1,000 unemployed. The numbers are not seasonally adjusted.
Of the 88 counties in Ohio, Highland County is ranked ninth 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 2.5 percent in Mercer County to a high of 6.9 percent in Adams and Monroe counties.
The state had five counties at or below 3.0 percent unemployment in March: Mercer County at 2.5 percent, Auglaize at 2.8 percent, Wyandot County at 2.9 percent and Delaware and Union counties at 3.0 percent.
The state had seven counties at or above 6.0 percent unemployment in March: Adams and Monroe counties at 6.9 percent, Ottawa County at 6.5 percent, Huron and Meigs counties at 6.4 percent, Morgan County at 6.2 percent and Noble County at 6.0 percent.
According to ODJFS, unemployment decreased in 68 counties, increased in seven counties and didn’t change in 13 counties in Ohio in March.
Of the six counties contiguous to Highland County, Ross County had 4.1 percent unemployment in March, Fayette County had 4.3 percent, Clinton County had 4.8 percent, Brown County had 4.9 percent, Pike County had 5.9 percent and Adams County had 6.9 percent.
Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.