Ohio unemployment rate drops to 6.1 percent in March

4/18/2014
ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBUS — The state says Ohio’s unemployment rate dropped in March to the lowest level in six years.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services said today the seasonally adjusted rate in March was 6.1 percent, which was down from 6.5 percent in February. It’s the state’s lowest jobless rate since April 2008.

The state’s rate has dipped below the national rate, which was 6.7 percent in both February and March.

The state says Ohio’s nonfarm wage and salary employment increased 600 over the month, from 5,282,300 in February to 5,282,900 in March.

The number of unemployed workers in Ohio in March was 353,000, down 24,000 from 377,000 in February. The state says the number of unemployed has decreased by 68,000 in the past 12 months from 421,000.