LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Kentucky Center for Statistics says unemployment rates fell in 81 of the state’s 120 counties between March 2020 and March 2021.
The center says jobless rates rose in 31 counties and stayed the same in eight counties.
The state’s lowest jobless rates were in Oldham, Todd and Woodford counties at 3.8% each.
The center says Magoffin County had the state’s highest unemployment rate at 13.6%.
It was followed by Harlan County at 9.4%. Kentucky’s seasonally adjusted, the preliminary unemployment rate last month was 5%.
The news comes as Kentucky leaders continue to investigate issues with the Unemployment Insurance (UI) system.
From thousands of people going unpaid to reports of fraud, Kentucky's Unemployment Office has had several problems over the last year. Now, a new audit is revealing a new problem –staff accessing their own accounts.
At least 10 employees with the Kentucky Office of Unemployment Insurance accessed their own unemployment accounts. That's what Kentucky auditor Mike Harmon details in the second volume of his audit for the state's fiscal year 2020.
"It was absolutely unacceptable. It was unethical,” Governor Andy Beshear said during a briefing Monday.
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