Ohio rate dips to 5.3 percent in September

Hiring across a broad swath of sectors helped lower Ohio’s jobless rate in September for the first time since May.

Despite the drop, the rate remains the third highest in the country.

Ohio’s jobless rate dipped to 5.3 percent in September from 5.4 percent in August as employers added a robust 10,500 jobs, according to an Ohio Department of Job and Family Services report released Friday.

The rate remains above the U.S. rate of 4.2 percent. Only Alaska (7.2 percent) and New Mexico (6.2 percent) have higher rates than Ohio.

The number of unemployed workers fell by 6,000 in September and is now down to 305,000.

The trade, transportation and utilities sector added 6,200 jobs last month, more than any other sector. The private education and health care sector added 4,600 jobs and the leisure and hospitality sector added 2,900 jobs. Manufacturing added 2,600 jobs.

There was a loss of 2,400 jobs in the financial sector, the most of any sector. There were smaller losses in other categories of jobs, and government employment was flat for the month.

The state’s employers have now added 61,600 jobs over the past year. Two-thirds of those gains were in two sectors: the private education and health care sector and the leisure and hospitality sector.

Meanwhile, the number of unemployed workers has increased by 21,000 over the past year.