The year-to-year jobless rate for counties in the North Central Ohio area dropped in May.
The unemployment rate for Crawford County was 5.2 percent last month compared with 5.5 percent in April 2015, according to data released Tuesday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. The county’s civilian labor force increased by 100 people to 19,300 in May, while unemployment decreased by 100 to 1,000.
In Richland County, the unemployment rate was 5 percent in May compared with 5.4 percent in May 2015. The civilian labor force was 53,500 people last month down by 200 people from the same month in 2015. Employment in Richland County remained the same, while unemployment decreased by 200 last month.
“The May 2016 unemployment estimates are mixed this month in the various north central Ohio counties,” Cleveland-based economist George Zeller said in an email. “We have little change between May 2015 and May 2016 in the north central Ohio unemployment rate estimates.”
Employment data for Ohio’s 88 counties is not seasonally adjusted and therefore changes in month-t0-month employment figures means nothing.
Ohio’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.1 percent in May compared with 4.9 percent in May 2015. The number of unemployed has increased by 18,000 in the past 12 months from 282,000.
The U.S. unemployment rate for May was 4.7 percent, down from 5 percent in May 2015.
“The data are unusually difficult to interpret this month, since all of the months in question are higher statewide in Ohio in the seasonally adjusted data than they are in the not seasonally adjusted data,” Zeller said. “The unemployment estimates are slightly too optimistic for May.”
In Morrow County, the unemployment rate was 4.3 percent in May compared with 4.6 percent in May 2015. The civilian labor force was 17,300 people in May — an increase of 400 people from May 2015. The county’s employment increased by 400 people to 16,400 in April, while unemployment increased by 100 to 800 for the same month.
The Knox County unemployment was 4.1 percent last month in May compared with 4.4 percent in May 2015.
