The rate of unemployment fell in all 120 of Kentucky’s counties during 2014, state agency officials said Thursday.
The Kentucky Office of Employment and Training reported that the latest numbers on the state’s jobless continue a positive trend toward a stronger employment picture.
"It's not a flash in the pan," said state economist Manoj Shanker, who noted that it was fourth month out of the last five in which all the state's counties had posted year-over-year reductions in joblessness.
The state agency, part of the state Education and Workforce Development Cabinet, said Scott and Woodford counties had the lowest unemployment rates in the state, at 3.7 percent, while Magoffin County in the eastern part of the state had the highest, at 11.5 percent. Fayette County also came in near the top, posting an unemployment rate of 3.8 percent.
News of the widespread drop in joblessness over the last year comes just days after the state agency announced that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the state as a whole dropped to 5.7 percent in December 2014. It marks the first time the state rate has fallen to that level since February 2008, just as the Great Recession took hold.
Shanker said the state was in good position for continued job growth.
"As long as nothing topples the apple cart, we should be looking good for the next couple of years," Shanker said.