The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services recently released November unemployment rate information.

The November 2015 rate for Ohio was 4.5 percent, up slightly from the October rate of 4.4 percent. A year earlier, Ohio’s November rate was 5.2 percent. In comparison, the U. S. November 2015 unemployment rate is 5 percent, unchanged from the October number. The prior November 2014 U. S. unemployment rate was 5.8 percent.

The most recent data for individual counties is the October 2015 rate information. Fayette and several south/central Ohio county unemployment rates for October 2015: Madison 3.4 percent, Warren 3.6 percent, Clermont 3.8 percent, Greene 3.8 percent, Pickaway 4.0 percent, Fayette 4.1 percent, Montgomery 4.3 percent, Ross 4.4 percent, Clinton 5.2 percent, Highland 5.4 percent and Pike 6.3 percent.

In related information, the Ohio Fact sheet places Fayette County per capita income at $34,264 for 2011. Per capita income or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area. Generally, per capita income moves with changes in employment and wages. In 2000, the Fayette County local per capita income was $22,415. In a decade, per capita income in Fayette County improved by $11,849.

The same per capita data for Ohio placed Ohio per capita income in 2000 at $28,206. By 2011, the Ohio per capita income had grown to $37,836, with the Ohio improvement over a decade being $9,630. Therefore, the gap between Ohio per capita income and Fayette County per capita income in a decade fell by $2,219.