Mar. 25--HAMILTON -- Local unemployment rates have spiked to the highest point in 25 years, with Hamilton and Middletown jobless figures remaining in the double digits, according to state officials.

Butler County's unemployment rate increased to 9.2 percent in February, leaving 17,300 people jobless, according to a report by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. It hasn't topped 9 percent since January 1984, when the rate was also 9.2 percent.

In Middletown and Hamilton, rates remained in the double digits at 11.9 percent and 10.7 percent, respectively, according to the report. The city of Fairfield, the only other Butler County city tracked by the state, also saw its jobless rate jump from 7.6 percent to 8.2 percent.

The county jobless rate is still below the state average of 9.4 percent for February, but above the national average of 8.1 percent, according to the report.

The labor market has seen an influx in job losses in the service-producing and goods-producing sectors, said Douglas Lumpkin, ODJFS director.

It's been difficult for Kylie Graham, 25, of Fairfield Twp. He was applying for a job at the Bridgewater Falls Target last week after three months of looking for office work.

"It's slim pickin's, that's for sure," she said. "I've applied at places (like) Walmart and Kroger, but nothing. " In January, Butler County had a unemployment rate of 8.6 percent. A year ago, the rate was 5.3 percent, according to the report.

March numbers are not expected to improve as AK Steel has additional workers on layoff for a maintenance shutdown of its Middletown blast furnace and Elder-Beerman has already closed its downtown Hamilton store.

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