MEDINA – The unemployment rate in Medina County is lower than the state as a whole or nation.

MEDINA – The unemployment rate in Medina County remained at 4.1 percent in October according to the latest labor report from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

That’s unchanged from September but up from 3.0 percent in October 2015.

ODJFS estimates compiled in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Labor indicate 90,200 Medina County residents had jobs in October and 3,800 were listed as unemployed.

Medina County’s 4.1 percent unemployment rate was lower than the unemployment rates for both the state and country. The Ohio unadjusted unemployment rate in October was estimated at 4.6 percent, down from 4.8 percent in September. The U.S. unadjusted rate for October was 4.7 percent, down from 4.8 percent in September.

However, seasonally adjusted estimates suggest the Ohio unemployment rate rose from 4.8 percent in September to 4.9 percent in October. The comparable estimates for the U.S. economy suggest unemployment across the nation dropped from 5.0 percent in September to 4.9 percent in October.

Among the state’s 88 counties, preliminary October unemployment rates ranged from a low of 3.0 percent in Mercer County to a high of 9.1 percent in Monroe County. From September, ODJFS calculated unemployment rates decreased in 75 counties, did not change in seven and increased in six.

The number of workers unemployed in Ohio in October was 280,000, up 5,000 from 275,000 in September. The number of unemployed has increased by 15,000 in the past 12 months from 265,000.

Ohio’s nonagricultural wage and salary employment decreased 2,800 over the month, from a revised 5,499,400 in September to 5,496,600 in October, according to the latest business establishment survey conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in cooperation with ODJFS.

Independent economic analyst George Zeller wrote in a report that October marked the third month in a row that Ohio has shown job growth lower than the national average and that Ohio job growth has lagged the national average in 46 of the last 47 months.

Other news reports found job growth lagged the previous year in many states in which Donald Trump won a majority of the votes in the presidential election Nov. 8.

Large cities in states where voters were more likely to support Trump also lagged in job growth, according to a separate analysis by the chief economist at the job search site Indeed. The figures add credence to the idea that economic concerns contributed to Trump’s unexpected victory.

Eleven U.S. states reported healthy job gains in October, and the unemployment rate fell in seven, the Labor Department said. Thirty-four states reported little change in employment from the previous month.

The healthiest gains in the past year were in so-called “blue” states: Job growth was 3.5 percent in Washington state, the biggest gain nationwide. Oregon reported the next largest gain, at 3.3 percent. Other healthy increases were in Colorado, California and Nevada.