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Unemployment Rates Down in Ohio and West Virginia
By: Associated Press
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The state says Ohio's unemployment rate dropped in November to 7.4 percent, down slightly from the October rate of 7.5 percent.
The rate was still well above the seasonally adjusted jobless rate of 6.8 percent in November of last year.
The Department of Job and Family Services released the initial unemployment figure Friday, with fuller jobs data for November to follow.
The state rate has varied only slightly throughout this year and had been hovering below the U.S. rate. But the Ohio rate for October was higher than the U.S. rate of 7.3 percent for that month.
Ohio's seasonally adjusted jobless rate in October was 7.5 percent, the highest for Ohio since March 2012.
The number of unemployed workers in the state that month was 427,000, up 2,000 from September.
The unemployment rate fell in 41 of West Virginia's 55 counties in November.
WorkForce West Virginia said the unemployment rose in 13 counties and was unchanged in one.
The state's seasonally adjusted jobless rate in November fell one-tenth of a percentage point to 6.1 percent.
Monongalia County had the state's lowest unemployment rate at 3 percent, followed by Jefferson at 3.3 percent and Pendleton at 3.8 percent.
Wetzel County's rate of 10 percent was the state's highest.