COLUMBUS – Ohio’s unemployment rate remained at a 14-year low in May, 5.2 percent, unchanged from April, according to data released Friday morning by the state.
The rate was the lowest since November 2001 and was slightly higher than the 5.1 percent recorded from December to March.
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported that employers added 12,000 jobs during the month to 5.4 million. The number of Ohioans reporting that they are employed has increased by 76,700 in the last year, a growth rate considered too slow by some analysts.
The number of working Ohioans has increased by 3.6 percent since the recession-era low of 5.2 million in December 2009, but is 4 percent below the peak of 5.6 million in February 2001.
The number of unemployed workers increased by 5,000 to 302,000 but has declined by 26,000 since May 2014, when the unemployment rate was 5.7 percent.
However, the number of Ohioans out of work has been cut in half from where it was in January 2010, in the depths of the recession. Participation in the work force, meanwhile, has declined by 4 percent since October 2002.
The gains in May were led by the service sector, manufacturing, construction, and state government while leisure and hospitality, information, and state and federal government employment lost jobs.
The manufacturing sector has added 17,100 jobs in the past 12 months while the service sector has added 68,000.
Ohio’s unemployment rate remained below the nation’s, which was 5.5 percent for May.