Ohio Unemployment Remains at 5.1% in February

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Ohio’s unemployment rate was 5.1% in February 2015, unchanged from January 2015, and down from 6.2% in February 2014, the Ohio Department of Job and Family services reported this morning.

Ohio’s nonfarm wage and salary employment increased 3,300 over the month, from a revised 5,383,900 in January to 5,387,200 in February.

The number of workers unemployed in Ohio in February was 291,000, down 2,000 from 293,000 in January. The number of unemployed has decreased by 66,000 in the past 12 months from 357,000, according to the report.

The national unemployment rate for February was 5.5%, down from 5.7% in January, and down from 6.7% in February 2014.

Ohio’s nonagricultural wage and salary employment increased 3,300 over the month, from a revised 5,383,900 in January 2015 to 5,387,200 in February 2015, according to the latest business establishment survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics.

 Employment in goods-producing industries, at 893,800, increased 4,200 from January as gains in construction (+2,900) and manufacturing (+1,500) exceeded losses in mining and logging (-200).

The private service-providing sector, at 3,736,800, lost 7,000 jobs in Ohio during February. Employment declines in professional and business services (-6,400), educational and health services (-3,100), other services (-1,400), financial activities (-1,300), and information (-200) outweighed employment gains in leisure and hospitality (+3,200) and trade, transportation, and utilities (+2,200).

SOURCE: Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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