Ohio unemployment rate nudges down in January

Ohio's unemployment rate eased to 5.5 percent in January as payroll levels moved opposite a smaller jobless pool, the state Department of Job and Family Services reported Friday.

The 5.5 percent jobless rate is down from a revised December rate of 5.8 percent - the state originally reported a rate of 6 percent that month - and only slightly up from 5.4 percent in January 2007. The department said nonfarm payroll levels nudged up to 5.44 million last month from 5.42 million in December, most of that growth coming from the services sector.

At the same time, the number of unemployed workers in the state fell 5 percent to 328,000 from 347,000 in December.

The national unemployment rate also fell marginally last month to 4.9 percent from 5 percent in December.

Across the state, the department said the strongest over-the-year gains came from the service-providing sector while Ohio's manufacturing and construction industries were among those posting losses.

The state plans to release metro-area unemployment statistics March 4.

http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2008/02/25/daily34.html

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Ohio unemployment rate nudges down in January