COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio’s unemployment rate continued to move up in September and
October.Thestate Department of Job and Family Services reported Friday that therate was 7.4 percent in
September and 7.5 percent last month. October’srate was the highest since March 2012.The rate is up from 7.3
percent in August when the last numbers were reported.Thestate rate has varied only slightly throughout this
year and had beenhovering below the U.S. rate. For October, though, the Ohio rate washigher than the U.S.
rate of 7.3 percent, which was up from 7.2 percentin September.Officials said furloughed federal employees
wereconsidered unemployed during the shutdown and thus contributed to thebump in national numbers. The
shutdown, however, had little effect onthe Ohio numbers.Ohio’s nonfarm wage and salary employment inOctober
was a little more than 5.2 million. It increased by 2,600 fromAugust to October.The number of unemployed
workers in Ohio inOctober was 427,000, up 2,000 from September. The state said the numberof unemployed has
increased by 31,000 in the past 12 months. The Octoberunemployment rate for Ohio was up from 6.9 percent in
October 2012.Thebiggest employment gains were in construction and manufacturing. Thebiggest losses were in
professional and business services, andeducational and health services. Government employment lost 6,300
jobs.Job and Family Services spokesman Ben Johnson noted that the state has continued to add jobs throughout
the year."The job market is growing, but it is happening very slowly," he said. "Thestate’s
post-recession jobless rate had bottomed out at 6.7 percent inDecember 2012, but has inched up or stayed
flat through most of theyear.Ohio’s monthly labor report for September had been delayedbecause of the
shutdown, so both sets of numbers were released Friday.The state compiles the report using data from the
federal Bureau ofLabor Statistics and the Census Bureau, and the shutdown affected bothagencies.Copyright
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