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April Jobless Rate Drops Slightly Despite Manufacturing Job Loss

photo of Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services
KAREN KASLER
/
STATEHOUSE NEWS BUREAU

The jobless rate fell last month, but the state also lost jobs.

The jobless rate for April dropped a tenth of a point to 5 percent – exactly where it was a year ago. But the state actually lost 5,700 jobs over the month. Job and Family Services spokesman Jon Keeling says that was largely due to losses in manufacturing, but it was countered by gains in private-sector service employment.

“Those jobs actually grew by 9,400 last month. It’s a complicated picture, but it’s one I’m happy with.”

Keeling says 21,000 more people entered Ohio’s labor force last month, but the unemployment rate still went down. He says that shows Ohio’s economy is looking positive, though Ohio’s jobless rate is still well above the national rate of 4.4 percent.

Karen is a lifelong Ohioan who has served as news director at WCBE-FM, assignment editor/overnight anchor at WBNS-TV, and afternoon drive anchor/assignment editor in WTAM-AM in Cleveland. In addition to her daily reporting for Ohio’s public radio stations, she’s reported for NPR, the BBC, ABC Radio News and other news outlets. She hosts and produces the Statehouse News Bureau’s weekly TV show “The State of Ohio”, which airs on PBS stations statewide. She’s also a frequent guest on WOSU TV’s “Columbus on the Record”, a regular panelist on “The Sound of Ideas” on ideastream in Cleveland, appeared on the inaugural edition of “Face the State” on WBNS-TV and occasionally reports for “PBS Newshour”. She’s often called to moderate debates, including the Columbus Metropolitan Club’s Issue 3/legal marijuana debate and its pre-primary mayoral debate, and the City Club of Cleveland’s US Senate debate in 2012.