Athens County unemployment rises along with entire state

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From staff reports

 

 

 

Unemployment rates rose in June among all Ohio counties, echoing both the national unemployment rate, which also rose at a slight rate.

Ohio’s unemployment rate in June rose to 4.5 percent, up from 4.3 percent in May.

That 4.5 percent mark is still lower than this point in 2017, when the unemployment rate in Ohio was reported at 5.1 percent.

The unemployment rate in Athens County has risen over the past six months, now at 7.6 percent. This is several points higher than the reported 5.8 percent in January and obscuring the slight drop in unemployment during the spring, according to the latest data from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Office of Workforce Development’s Bureau of Labor Market Information.

The national unemployment rate was 4.0 percent, down slightly from 4.3 percent in June 2017.

Among the state’s 88 counties, preliminary June 2018 unemployment rates ranged from a low of 3.3 percent in Mercer County to a high of 7.9 percent in Monroe County.

All counties surrounding Athens County showed lower unemployment rates than Athens, except for Meigs (7.8 percent).