Ohio year-to-year unemployment rate drops in February

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The year-to-year jobless rate in Ohio dropped in February, while four counties in North Central Ohio saw an increase instead in the unemployment rate.

In Crawford County, the jobless rate was 6.7 percent last month compared with 6.6 percent in February 2015, according to data released Tuesday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

The civilian labor force in Crawford County remained the same at 19,200 with 17,900 employed and 1,300 unemployed.

The unemployment rate in Richland County increased to 6.5 percent in February compared with 6.2 percent in February 2015. The civilian labor force dropped to 53,100 last month compared with 54,400 in February 2015. Employment dropped to 49,700 in February from 51,000 in the same month of 2015, while unemployment increased to 3,500 from 3,400, respectively.

In Morrow County, the unemployment rate increased to 6 percent in February compared with 5.7 percent in the same month of 2015. Employment increased to 16,100 last month from 16,000 in February 2015, while unemployment remained the same at 1,000. The civilian labor force was 17,100 last month compared with 16,900 in February 2015.

The February jobless rate for Knox County increased to 5.4 percent from 4.9 percent in February 2015.

But unlike the U.S. and Ohio, unemployment figures at the county level are not adjusted for seasonal variations.

The seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in Ohio was 4.9 percent last month, unchanged from January but down when compared with the 5.1 percent jobless rate in February 2015. The number of unemployed has decreased by 6,000 in the past 12 months from 291,000.

The U.S. unemployment rate for February was 4.9 percent, unchanged from January and down from 5.5 percent in February 2015.

The new Ohio employment figures for February 2016 include the once per year annual benchmark revision through a comparison of the monthly statistics survey data with the more accurate complete count of jobs, according to Cleveland-based economist George Zeller.

The revisions go back to April 200 in “unprecedented fashion,” Zeller said, and the revisions impact seasonal and not seasonally adjusted data.

“The main surprising revision is that Ohio gained no jobs at all during 2015 in the seasonally adjusted estimates,” he said.

Ohio’s job growth rate was at 1.56 percent in February, below the national average of 1.91 percent, he added.

“At the current sub-par rate of job growth in Ohio during April 2015, it will take Ohio nearly 13 years to recover the jobs that Ohio previously lost during a combination of the 2000s recession and the 2007 Great Recession,” Zeller said. “That is extremely troubling.”

By Brandon Klein

[email protected]

Reach Klein at 419-468-1117, ext. 2048 or on Twitter at @brandoneklein.

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