Unemployment Rate Declines In August

Ohio's unemployment rate has increased slightly. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services says the seasonally adjusted jobless rate for August is 7.3 percent, up a tenth of a point from July. 419-thousand Ohioans were out of work last month, up by 3-thousand from July. The department says non-farm payrolls fell by 82-hundred last month to slightly more than 5.2 million. The largest job losses were in the leisure and hospitality sector and in educational and health services. 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. The Labor Department says Ohio is one of 18 states that are reporting higher unemployment rates for August. Rates fell in 17 states and were unchanged in 15.