Ohio's unemployment rate rises to 7.3 percent for August, matching national rate

9/20/2013

COLUMBUS — Ohio’s unemployment rate has increased slightly, matching the national rate for last month.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services says the seasonally adjusted jobless rate in August was 7.3 percent, up from 7.2 percent the previous month.

The state rate has varied only slightly throughout this year and had been hovering below the U.S. rate. The national rate dropped to 7.3 percent in August, the lowest since 2008, because more people stopped looking for work and were no longer counted as unemployed.

Ohio logged 419,000 unemployed workers in August, about 3,000 more than in July.

Ohio’s nonfarm wage and salary employment decreased by 8,200 to just over 5.2 million for August. The biggest losses were in the leisure and hospitality sector and in educational and health services.