Ohio jobless rate dips to 8.5 percent in November

COLUMBUS (AP) — Officials say Ohio’s unemployment rate has taken its biggest one-month drop in nearly 30 years amid improvement in the state’s job market and overall economy.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services said today that joblessness fell in November to 8.5 percent, from an even 9 percent in October.

Department spokesman Ben Johnson says the half-a-percentage-point decline is the largest since the summer of 1983. Also, last month’s unemployment rate was the lowest since December 2008 and was below the national rate of 8.6 percent.

Johnson says unemployment went down as the state added jobs and as the labor force shrank because some people stopped looking for work.

Ohio payrolls outside of farms grew by 6,000 in November, led by hiring in services.