By Gary Ogle
gogle@wbcowqel.com
The post-holiday blues certainly made its presence known when the January numbers for unemployment rates were released Tuesday.
The latest report released by the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services indicated that the jobless rate in Crawford County took a jump from December to January and is at 6.9 percent.
“Typically it does go up a little bit (in January),” said Angela Neef of the Crawford County Department of Jobs and Family Services. “”It’s kind of that time between seasons.”
The seasons Neef refers to is the holiday retail season and the summer employment spike. Neef said it is important for those without work not to get discouraged and drop out of their personal searches for jobs. She said there are jobs available in the county.
Neef said the unemployment rate for the county has jumped every January sine she began tracking the figure back in 1990. Last year at this same time the unemployment rate here was 8.6 percent.
All of surrounding counties also went up, none as much as Huron County which climbed to 10.3 percent. Wyandot County’s jobless rate remains the lowest in the area at 4.8 percent. Richland County is at 7.0 percent, Morrow County and Seneca County are both at 6.3, and Marion County is at 6.7.
Neef said while this rise in the jobless figures were somewhat expected, it will be important to see what happens as the weather warms up. She noted that if the unemployment rate continues to go up, “That would give you pause.”