COLUMBUS – State officials say Ohio’s unemployment rate rose slightly in June from the previous month and remains higher than the national rate.
The jobless rate ticked up to 5.0 percent in June from 4.9 percent in May as workers continued to join the state’s labor force and find jobs.
Ohio’s statewide jobless rate has fluctuated narrowly from 4.9 percent to 5.1 percent for the past 19 months.
In the first half of 2017, 78,000 Ohioans joined the state’s work force and employment increased by 74,000 between January and June.
Critics of Gov. John Kasich and majority Republican in the Statehouse have pointed out that Ohio’s job growth has lagged behind that of the nation as a whole since the end of the recession. The 5.5 million Ohioans working in June 2017 is 162,000 fewer than the 5.65 million in January 2007, before the recession began.
Employers added 11,500 jobs last month, from a revised 5.517 million in May to 5.528 million, according to the latest business establishment survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
That is the strongest monthly job growth in 11 months.
There were 5,000 more unemployed workers in Ohio, according to the department’s monthly report. The number of unemployed has increased by 10,000 in the past year while employment grew 56,800 with the service sector adding 45,900 of those jobs.
The U.S. unemployment rate for June 2017 was 4.4 percent.