COLUMBUS – Powered by strong hiring in the service sector, Ohio’s unemployment rate dropped for the first time in 10 months, according to data released by the state Friday morning.
The unemployment rate in May was 5.1 percent, down from 5.2 percent in April. The state’s jobless rate has remained unchanged or has increased every month since August, when it dipped to a post-recession low of 4.6 percent, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.The rate was 0.2 percentage points higher than the May 2015 rate of 4.9 percent and 0.4 percent above the national unemployment rate.
Better than nothing, was how one persistent critic of Gov. John Kasich’s economic policies greeted the news.
“Job growth is better than job loss, but the data released today demonstrate that Ohio continues to have a slow and shallow recovery. The state continues to underperform the nation, even when national growth is disappointing,” said Hannah Halbert, researcher with Policy Matters Ohio.
Halbert says the figures released Friday indicate that Ohio’s employment has only grown by 1.2 percent since the official start of the 2007 recession, adding a little over 67,000 jobs in those eight years, while employment across the nation as a whole grew by nearly 10 percent over the same time.
Ohio employers added 9,200 jobs last month. The 14,700 jobs added by service-sector employers last month more than offset the loss 5,500 job losses in manufacturing, construction, mining and government.
The number of unemployed workers fell by 2,000, even though the workforce grew to 5.83 million, up from a low-tide mark of 5.69 million in September.
The state has added 70,900 jobs in the past year.