COLUMBUS, Ohio – Unemployment in the Columbus metropolitan area fell for the third straight month to its lowest level in 14 years.
According to data released Wednesday morning by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, the jobless rate in the 10-county area was 3.8 percent, the lowest since October of 2001 and approximately a third of it Great Recession-era high of 10.2 percent in January, 2010.
The report showed the largest number of central Ohioans since November – 982,500 –reported that they were working, with only 38,800 listed as unemployed and actively seeking work, compared with more than 101,000 five years ago.
The statewide unemployment rate announced on Friday was 5.2 percent and the national rate is 5.4 percent.
Two counties in the region, Hocking (5.2) and Perry (6.1), showed unemployment rates at or above the state average. Delaware (3.1) and Union (3.5) counties were the lowest in central Ohio.