COLUMBUS – Ohio added to its record high employment last month, as the number of Ohioans who were working increased to 5.647 million, according to data released Friday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
The state’s unemployment rate remained at 4.6 percent for the fourth straight month, down from 4.9 percent in October 2017.
The national rate was 3.7 percent, unchanged from September and down from 4.1 percent in October 2017.
The state says Ohio’s nonagricultural wage and salary employment increased by 10,900 jobs from from a revised 5.636 million in September.
That could push the state’s 12-month job growth rate to 2.1 percent, which would make 2018 the first year since 2010 that Ohio outperformed the nation in job growth, said Caitlin Johnson, spokeswoman for the progressive-leaning Policy Matters Ohio.
The number of unemployed workers also remained unchanged at 266,000 for the third month in a row.
The agency reports job gains in educational and health services; professional and business services; leisure and hospitality; and trade, transportation and utilities exceeded losses in financial activities and other services. Government employment counts did not change.
The state reports a gain of 1,400 manufacturing jobs last month and a loss of 200 jobs in construction and mining and logging.