State sees jobs gains in manufacturing, government

By Kalea Hall | July 23, 2016 at 12:00a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Instead of reporting more job cuts in June, manufacturing and all three sectors of government reportedly added jobs to the economy.

The state’s seasonally adjusted jobless rate last month was 5 percent, down from the 5.1 percent reported in May, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported Friday.

The state saw 2,600 jobs added in manufacturing. Local government added 5,100, state government added 4,100 and the federal government added 400.

“That’s the reason for the positive end of this [report], but it wasn’t positive enough,” said George Zeller, a Cleveland-based economist.

Zeller says the state falls behind the nation’s growth. He points to a need for the government to invest in more jobs to build up the economy.

“We need to stop cutting government,” Zeller said. “We did, and we got a fairly good [unemployment] figure.”

Ohio’s nonagricultural wage and salary employment increased by 12,400 during the month, from a revised 5,484,600 in May to 5,497,000 in June.

In June, the state had 291,000 unemployed workers, down 9,000 from the 300,000 reported in May.

The civilian labor force, which is the sum of the employed and unemployed, dropped 16,000 over the month to 5,810,000.

The number of unemployed has increased by 17,000 in the past 12 months from 274,000, according to the state’s report.

Health care, which typically posts job gains in the state, lost jobs. Together, health care and educational services lost 6,500 jobs. The private sector also posted a loss of 1,200 jobs. Financial activities lost 2,500, and other services lost 1,200. Mining and logging also saw a loss of 300 jobs over the month.

Professional and business services gained 6,900 jobs; leisure and hospitality saw a gain of 1,500; and trade, transportation and utilities gained 600. Construction services also added 1,700 jobs.

The U.S. unemployment rate for June was 4.9 percent, up from 4.7 percent in May.

Local nonseasonally adjusted unemployment figures for the Mahoning Valley will be released Tuesday.