Employment conditions deteriorate further

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Ohio’s unemployment rate has climbed further, one month after crossing into double digits for the first time in more than a quarter-century.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported Friday that the state’s jobless rate in May was 10.8 percent, up from 10.2 percent in April.

Last month’s unemployment was the highest since October 1983 and was up 4.5 percentage points from the state’s May 2008 rate of 6.3 percent.

Department Director Douglas Lumpkin says May’s job gains in services were mostly offset by continued losses in manufacturing. He says unemployment rose as workers re-entered Ohio’s labor market and were unable to find jobs.

Officials say Ohio had 646,000 unemployed workers last month, up from 609,000 in April.

The U.S. Labor Department reported Friday that 48 states and the District of Columbia saw employment conditions deteriorate last month. The fallout from the longest recession since World War II, was the worst in Michigan as automakers cut tens of thousands of jobs. Its unemployment rate rose to 14.1 percent.

The West region reported the highest jobless rate at 10.1 percent. The last time any region had a rate of at least 10 percent was September 1983, when the country was emerging from a severe recession.

The region is home to California, where the jobless rate jumped to a record 11.5 percent last month, Nevada, where it’s a record 11.3 percent, and other states that have been slammed when the housing boom went bust — snatching jobs and wealth.

The other six states that set new highs on records dating to 1976 were: North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Florida and Georgia.

Nebraska’s jobless rate dipped last month, while Vermont’s was flat.

On the layoffs front, Arizona and Florida suffered the largest monthly percentage decreases, followed by Oklahoma and Arkansas, Kentucky and Michigan.

Joblessness is rising as companies lay off workers and turn to other cost-saving measures, such as trimming hours and freezing or slicing wages, to survive the recession. Housing, credit and financial problems — the worst since the 1930s — have sent the economy into a tailspin.

Factories, construction companies, retailers and financial companies are among the industries that have slashed the most jobs. U.S. manufacturers have suffered a double whammy: U.S. consumers have pulled back along with foreign customers, who are dealing with their own economic troubles.

The national jobless rate has hit a quarter-century high of 9.4 percent, and there’s more pain ahead as millions of unemployed Americans find scarce opportunities to land new jobs.