250,000+ Ohio Jobs Lost in the Past Year Alone

Business First of Columbus reports:

The state saw little change in the labor market in July, but job losses among goods-producing industries in the state helped push Ohio’s unemployment rate up slightly, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported Friday.

The department said the state’s jobless rate hit a seasonally adjusted 11.2 percent last month, up from 11.1 percent in June and 6.7 percent a year ago. Ohio’s jobless rate topped the 11 percent mark in June, a level not seen since the 1981-82 recession.

Keeping the state’s unemployment rate from climbing much further in July was the service sector, which gained more than 12,000 jobs over the month to hit payroll of about 4.3 million. The biggest increases were seen in the hospitality, education and health services and financial sectors, the department said. Those gains were somewhat offset by a net loss of 2,400 jobs in the construction and manufacturing industries.

Nonfarm payroll in Ohio is down by nearly 255,000 compared with July 2008, with more than half of all losses coming from the goods-producing sector.