COLUMBUS – Ohio’s unemployment rate increased last month to 4.2% as the state added nearly 16,000 jobs, marking the 12th straight month of job growth and mirroring the healthy level of hiring that continues to be seen across the nation.
Ohio employers added 15,700 jobs in October, nearly all of them in the service and government sectors, as the number of people who reported they were working increased from a revised 5.49 million in September to 5.51 million, according to data released Friday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
The unemployment rate rose from September’s 4.0% as America’s employers kept hiring vigorously, adding 261,000 positions, a sign that the economy remains a picture of solid job growth but painful inflation.
A strong job market is deepening the challenges the Federal Reserve faces as it raises interest rates at the fastest pace since the 1980s to try to bring inflation down from near a 40-year high.
The number of Ohioans and Americans applying for jobless benefits has risen in over the past two weeks as job cuts begin to spread across sectors most affected by soaring interest rates, such as housing and technology.
Labor force participation rate, the measure of those people working or looking for work has steadily declined in Ohio from a post-pandemic high of 62% in May and June to 61.5%.