MOUNT VERNON — Unemployment in Knox County rose in the month of March, according to data released Tuesday by the Ohio Department of Job & Family Services.
The unemployment rate was 6.2 percent in March, compared to 5.8 in February. The corresponding figure for March 2007 was 5.4 percent.
Roger Shooter, director of the Knox County Department of Job & Family services, said he attributes the increase in unemployment in March to a weak, local economy.
“I think Knox County is a mirror image of the rest of the country,” he said.
Shooter said he thinks the poor housing market, a lower number of new housing starts and a lack of money in the economy has decreased the number of construction jobs, for instance.
The ODJFS estimates the county labor force to be 30,700 with 1,900 unemployed individuals.
Unemployment rates rose in 53 of the state’s 88 counties in March and ranged from a low of 4.1 percent in Delaware County to a high of 11.2 percent in Morgan County. The county unemployment information is not seasonally adjusted; it does not take into account regular seasonal trends such as weather. Seasonally adjusted figures, such as state and national unemployment rates, are created to remove noneconomic factors such as the weather.
The ODJFS reports a state unemployment rate of 5.7 for March, up from 5.3 percent in February. The rate for March 2007 was 5.5 percent.
“Ohio continued to feel the effects of a weaker economy in March,” ODJFS director Helen Jones-Kelley said. “Overall, loss in goods-producing industries overshadowed smaller gains in the service-producing industries.”
The number of unemployed workers in Ohio in March was 344,000, compared to 316,000 in February, according to the ODJFS. The number of unemployed has increased by 15,000 in the past 12 months.
The U.S. unemployment rate for March was 5.1 percent, up from 4.8 percent in February.
