Unemployment rates for most northwest Ohio counties dropped in February even as the rates for the vast majority of other counties in Ohio rose, according to numbers issued yesterday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
The city of Toledo's jobless rate declined in February to 12.8 percent from 14.3 percent in January. Likewise, Lucas County's rate fell to 12 percent from 13.3 percent in January. Of northwest Ohio's 16 counties, rates dropped in 11 even as the statewide rate rose to 9.4 percent from 8.8 percent.
The decline is largely because of callbacks at local automotive parts and assembly plants in late January after extended winter shutdowns throughout the domestic auto industry, state job department spokesman Brian Harter said.
"It's just one month, and we want to wait and see additional [monthly] data before we'll know whether it's the start of a good trend," he said. "It's a little encouraging when you're starting to see some rates dropping a little bit."
Ken Mayland, an economist with ClearView Economics in suburban Cleveland, said the decline in local unemployment rates is most likely from the restart of auto manufacturing and not a sign of recovery. But a recovery will come, Mr. Mayland said.
"With states and counties, there's a lot of month-to-month volatility, but we're not at the end of this sad period of job loss. [The unemployment rate] is going to work higher," he said. "I'm looking for a stabilization, a bottom, over the summer, and economic growth starting out slow and maybe surprisingly strong growth in the fourth quarter."The seasonally unadjusted rates show that employment remains strongest in Ohio along the I-71 corridor linking Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. Mr. Harter said the thin band of lower unemployment along I-71 is because counties in that area have more diverse economies and are not as dependent on manufacturing. The remaining areas of Ohio still struggle with jobless rates well in excess of 10 percent.
Huron County once again recorded the highest unemployment rate in the state at 18 percent. The rural county suffered staggering industrial losses last year, including the closing of the former Norwalk Furniture Corp., which since has reopened with a new owner and name, Norwalk Custom Order Furniture LLC.
The number of jobless last month was 26,000 in Lucas County and 86,000 across northwest Ohio, state figures show.
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