Ohio’s jobless rate continues to rise

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Ohio’s unemployment rate continued to move up in September and October.

The state Department of Job and Family Services reported Friday that the rate was 7.4 percent in September and 7.5 percent last month. October’s rate was the highest since March 2012.

The rate is up from 7.3 percent in August when the last numbers were reported.

The state rate has varied only slightly throughout this year and had been hovering below the U.S. rate. For October, though, the Ohio rate was higher than the U.S. rate of 7.3 percent, which was up from 7.2 percent in September.

Officials said furloughed federal employees were considered unemployed during the shutdown and thus contributed to the bump in national numbers. The shutdown, however, had little effect on the Ohio numbers.

Ohio’s nonfarm wage and salary employment in October was a little more than 5.2 million. It increased by 2,600 from August to October.

The number of unemployed workers in Ohio in October was 427,000, up 2,000 from September.