COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio’s unemployment rate was down slightly in October to 5.3 percent, its lowest level in almost nine years.
The last time the statewide unemployment rate was as low as 5.3 percent. The last time in was that low was in February and March of 2006, three and a half years before it peaked at 10.6 percent and stuck there from July 2009 until the following February. Last year’s October unemployment rate was 7.4 percent.
The unemployment rate had held steady at 5.7 percent in July and August, then dropped to 5.6 percent for September. The Ohio unemployment rate was slightly better than the national rate, which was 5.8 percent for October.
The liberal policy group Policy Matters Ohio says the monthly report show uneven growth at best, claiming that that state added jobs at about half the rate as the nation as a whole over the past year. Ohio still needs to add 110,900 jobs to make up losses during the recession, says Hannah Halbert, the group’s workforce researcher.
“The monthly jobs data continue to send mixed messages but the overall trend is clear. Ohio is not keeping pace with the nation and we are nowhere near robust job growth,” she said.
The Department of Job and Family Services data released Friday morning showed employers added 1,000 jobs from September to 5.307 million while the number of workers looking for jobs and collecting benefits decreased 14,000 from September.
The 12,300 jobs added in the service sector, mainly in leisure and hospitality, compensated for 2,800 construction jobs and 1,200 manufacturing jobs lost.