“Ohio’s job market continued to show improvement during May as the unemployment rate fell to 10.7 percent,” ODJFS Director Douglas Lumpkin said in a press release. “Manufacturing jobs increased and the hiring of temporary census workers boosted the number of service-providing jobs.”
The number of unemployed workers in May dropped to 641,000 from 652,000 in April. During the past 12 months, the number of unemployed has gone up by 22,000 from 619,000. The May 2009 unemployment rate was 10.3 percent.
The number of Ohioans employed increased by 17,100 in May to 5,052,500, up from 5,035,400 in April. In April, Ohio gained 37,300 jobs, more than any other state.
The national unemployment rate for May was 9.7 percent, down from 9.9 percent in April.
Release of the state rate came as President Barack Obama prepared to visit Columbus Friday to tout the federal economic stimulus plan’s help in reducing unemployment at the groundbreaking for a $15 million street project that is supposed to create 325 construction jobs.
Contact this reporter at (614) 224-1608 or whershey@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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