By Wayne Gates – 

The unemployment rate in Brown County and the surrounding area was down in February.
Following an upward spike from December of 2016 to January of 2017, the jobless rate has begun to fall again.
In Brown County, the February number is 6.7 percent down from 7.2 percent in January.
Adams County recorded the sharpest drop in the area, falling to 9.5 percent in February from 10.4 percent in January.
Highland County saw a drop in the unemployment rate to 7.1 percent, down from the January number of 7.9 percent.
Clermont and Clinton counties both saw a drop of .4 percent from January numbers, falling to 5.3 and 6.9 percent respectively in February.
According to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, 76 of Ohio’s 88 counties saw a drop in their unemployment rates from January to February.
The rate rose in 11 counties and remained the same in one.
The Cincinnati metro region and the state as a whole also both saw a decrease in the unemployment rate.
The Cincinnati Metropoli-tan Statistical Area, which includes Hamilton, Butler, Warren, Clermont and Brown counties, saw a drop from 5.0 percent in January to 4.8 percent in February. In the state as a whole, the jobless rate fell from 6.0 percent in January to 5.9 percent in February.
Monroe County had the highest unemployment rate in the state in February at 11.8 percent, followed by Meigs County at 10.2 percent and Ottawa County at 9.6 percent.
Adams County remained with the fourth highest unemployment rate in the state at 9.5 percent tied with Noble County.
The lowest jobless rate in the state was in Mercer County at 3.7 percent.
Brown County remained in the middle of Ohio’s highest unemployment rates, coming in at number 35 with 6.7 percent, down two spots from the January ranking of 33.