04.08.08
Economic Trends
Fourth District Employment Conditions
The district’s unemployment rate dropped 0.1 percent to 5.6 percent for the month of January. Since this same time last year, the Fourth District’s unemployment rate increased 0.1 percentage point, while the national rate rose 0.3 percentage point.
The district’s unemployment rate dropped 0.1 percent to 5.6 percent for the month of January. The decrease in the unemployment rate can be attributed to decreases in the number of people unemployed (-1.6 percent) and the labor force (-0.2 percent) as well as an increase in the number of people employed (0.1 percent). The district’s unemployment rate has been consistently higher than the nation’s since early 2004, and January, with the rate 0.7 percent higher in the district, was no exception. Since this same time last year, the Fourth District’s unemployment rate increased 0.1 percentage point, while the national rate rose 0.3 percentage point.
County-level unemployment rates vary throughout the district. Of the 169 counties in the Fourth District, 28 had an unemployment rate below the national average in January, and 141 had a higher rate. Rural Appalachian counties continue to experience higher levels of unemployment.
The distribution of unemployment rates across Fourth District counties ranges from 4.0 percent to 10.5 percent, with the median county unemployment rate at 6.0 percent. Pennsylvania counties populate the middle to lower half of the distribution while, Ohio and Kentucky counties cut across the entire range. Four of West Virginia’s six Fourth District counties fall in the upper half of the distribution.
