Jobless rate in Ohio drops to 10.5% in June

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

The state says Ohio unemployment declined to 10.5 percent in June, from 10.7 percent in May, as fewer people looked for work.

Ben Johnson, spokesman for the Department of Job and Family Services, says it’s possible that some out-of-work Ohioans chose to take a summer break from job searching to spend time with family.

The state’s jobless rate is a full percentage point higher than the national rate of 9.5 percent.

Along with unemployment, hiring in Ohio went down slightly in June. Officials say temporary census workers lost work, and that offset moderate job gains in the private sector.

The number of workers unemployed in Ohio in June was 625,000, down from 641,000 in May. The state’s overall employment outside of farms went down by 1,500 last month.

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