GALLIPOLIS - Gallia County's unemployment rate remained unchanged in November while for the third time this year, Meigs County's jobless rate was under 10 percent, the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services reported.

In surrounding counties, unemployment showed an increase in figures released by ODJFS in its monthly report.

Gallia was at 5.4 percent in November, the same rate it recorded in October. Meigs County dropped one-tenth of a percent to 8.2 percent last month. Its October rate was 8.3 percent, and had been at 9.1 percent last July, the first time since 2001 the jobless rate went under double digits.

Athens County also saw no change in joblessness at 5.2 percent, while Jackson County, which had 6.3 percent in October, went to 6.4 percent in November.

Lawrence County increased to 5.4 percent after posting 5.3 percent in October, and Vinton County's rate traveled upward from 6.7 percent in October to 7.2 percent for November.

The state's unemployment rate was 5.7 percent in November, down from 5.9 percent in October.

The national unemployment rate for November was 5 percent, unchanged from October.

“The labor market showed signs of improvement in November as the number of jobs increased and the number of people unemployed declined,” said ODJFS Director Barbara Riley.

Pike County had the highest rate of unemployment in November, 8.7 percent, while Holmes County had the lowest rate at 3.5 percent.

The number of workers unemployed in Ohio in November was 339,000, down from 347,000 in October. The number of unemployed has decreased by 23,000 over the year from 362,000. The November unemployment rate for Ohio was down from 6.1 percent in November 2004.

Rates reported by ODJFS are unadjusted, meaning they do not take into account seasonal adjustments in employment.

(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)