COLUMBUS – The unemployment rate in Ohio increased for the second straight month, from 5.0% in May to 5.2% in June as more workers rejoined the labor force.
Employers added 31,300 jobs, increasing the number of Ohioans who reported they were working to 5.32 million, while more people entered the job market, according to data released Friday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
The gains followed two straight months of job losses.
The state has regained approximately 600,000 of the jobs lost in the opening weeks of the pandemic but the number of Ohioans who are employed is still about 300,000 short of the 5.6 million who were working prior to the shutdown.
The gains were led by increased hiring in the manufacturing and service sectors and in state and local governments, according to a survey conducted by the state agency and the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The data indicates that 13,000 more Ohioans claimed unemployment benefits as the participation in the labor force increased from 59.9% in May to 60.2% last month.