Staff report
news@wbcowqel.com
July was a tough month on local farmers and it wasn’t any better in the labor market according to the latest jobs report released by the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services.
According to that report Crawford County lost significant ground as the unemployment rate here went from 5.9 percent in June to 6.4 percent in July. In July of 2015 the jobless rate was 5.7 percent.
The report indicates the county has a labor force of 19,300 and 18,000 of those are working.
Of those counties that share a border with Crawford County, only Huron County is showing the same pattern of an increase in the unemployment rate. Huron County’s increase is even more severe, jumping from 5.6 percent in June to 6.8 percent in July.
All other neighboring counties either held their ground or decreased the month-to-month unemployment rate. In this area, Wyandot County has the lowest unemployment rate at 3.7 percent and Huron County has the highest at 6.8.
Statewide, the jobless rate is down one–tenth from June to July which was 4.8 percent. One year ago, Ohio’s unemployment rate was 5.0 percent. Mercer County had the lowest unemployment at 3.1 percent and Monroe County the highest at 9.9 percent.