MOUNT VERNON — Unemployment in Knox County rose during the month of December, according to data released Tuesday by the Ohio Department of Job & Family Services. The rate is a full percentage point higher than it was a year ago.
The unemployment rate rose from 5.3 for the month of November to 6.1 in December. The corresponding figure for December 2006 was 5.1 percent.
Knox County ranked 51 in the rankings of Ohio county unemployment rates, with 1,900 unemployed out of an estimated labor force of 31,000.
Rates increased in all but one of Ohio’s 88 counties, ranging from a low of 4.2 percent in Delaware and Mercer counties to a high of 10.2 in Morgan County.
The county unemployment information is not seasonally adjusted, meaning it does not take into account regular seasonal trends such as weather. In some states, for instance, home construction regularly drops in the winter due to cold weather. Seasonally adjusted unemployment estimates are created to remove these noneconomic factors.
Over the past 12 months, nonagricultural wage and salary employment in Ohio fell 15,300. Goods-producing dropped 14,500 due mainly to a loss of 13,800 in the manufacturing sector. Natural resource and mining dropped by 400 and construction dropped by 300. Service-providing industries lost 800 jobs over the year. There were other large declines in several other sectors: trade, transportation and utilities (4,300); financial activities (3,600); leisure and hospitality (2,700); information (1,800); and government (600). Educational and health services added 10,700, while professional and business services rose 2,900.
Ohio’s unemployment rate was 6.0 percent in December, up from 5.6 percent in November. The rate was 5.6 percent in December 2006.
“Ohio’s labor market showed weaknes in December, mirroring that of the U.S.,” ODJFS Director Helen Jones-Kelley said. “Total employment decreased slightly in both goods-producing and service-producing industries.”
The number of workers unemployed in Ohio in December was 361,000, up from 334,000 in November. The number of unemployed rose by 27,000 in the past 12 months.
All labor statistics are estimates and do not correspond to the actual number of employed and unemployed in the labor force. These figures fail to factor in certain groups such as many who are self-employed or unemployed individuals who have become discouraged and have stopped looking for work.
