COLUMBUS – Ohio’s unemployment rate was 4.2 percent in November, unchanged for the third straight month as Ohio employers added more than 6,000 jobs, though the number of people looking for work also increased.
The state added 6,700 jobs over the month, nearly all in the service sector as holiday seasonal hiring ramped up among retailers, from a revised 5.591 million in October to 5.598 million.
The number of unemployed workers grew by 1,000, according to data released Friday morning by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
Ohio has added more than 20,000 jobs in the past year, though critics say that is a much slower pace than the nation as a whole.
The November unemployment rate for Ohio decreased from 4.6 percent in November 2018 but remains higher than the national rate, which is at a historically low 3.5 percent.