COLUMBUS – Ohio’s unemployment rate inched upward in August, the first increase in four months, as employers kept hiring and the pace of layoffs slowed down over the summer.
The unemployment rate in August was 4.0%, up from 3.9% in July, even as employers added 7,500 jobs, according to data released by the state Friday.
Hiring in the U.S. in 2022 has been remarkably strong even in the midst of rising interest rates and weak economic growth. The U.S. unemployment rate for August 2022 was 3.7%, up from 3.5% in July.
Ohio has added jobs during each of the last 10 months and has recovered more than 80% of the jobs lost to COVID-19, according to Policy Matters Ohio.
First-time claims for unemployment benefits in the state fell to a post-pandemic low last week. The 5,954 initial claims are 32% lower than the number posted at the end of May, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
Most of the job gains in Ohio came in the service sector, but the state also added jobs in construction, mining and logging, and local government.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell again last week to a four-month low.