Ohio Unemployment Rate Drops to 5.7% in April
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Ohio’s unemployment rate in April was down nearly half a percentage point from the month before, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported this morning, providing political fodder for both political parties.
The 5.7% unemployment rate the state posted in April is down from 6.1% in March, according to the monthly data. In April 2013, the Ohio unemployment rate as 7.3%.
Nonfarm wage and salary employment increased 12,600 over the month, from a revised 5,285,000 in March to 5,297,600 in April. The number of workers unemployed in Ohio last month was 328,000, down 26,000 from 354,000 in March.
Ohio Senate President Keith Faber, R-12 Celina, pointed out that the state unemployment rate hasn’t been this low since February 2008.
“We’ve taken our state from the back of the line to a position of leadership as we continue to focus on job creation, workforce development and economic growth,” Faber remarked. He further hailed the jobs report as proof that the state’s model of “lower taxes, streamlined government and increased focus on developing our state’s workforce to meet the demands of the changing global economy is working.”
Ohio House Speaker William G. Batchelder, R-69 Medina, also praised the data.
“In 2011, Ohio’s unemployment rate was over 9 percent, and many Ohioans were losing hope that they would be able to find gainful employment and provide for their families. Since that time, the Ohio House has worked closely with Gov. Kasich and our colleagues in the Ohio Senate to bring Ohio back to life with pro-jobs, pro-business policies that would allow our economy to grow,” Batchelder said.
“Our economy is continuing to grow, more and more Ohioans are returning to work, and we are sending a strong message to the rest of the nation and the world that Ohio is open for business,” he continued. “I applaud all the work that Governor Kasich has done in working with the legislature and his unmatched efforts in encouraging businesses to invest in Ohio.”
The campaign of Cuyahoga County Executive Ed Fitzgerald, the Democratic nominee to unseat Kasich this fall, sought to downplay the declining unemployment rate. A statement issued by communications director Daniel McElhatton charged that more Ohioans stopped looking for work than found jobs in April -- even as 12,600 Ohioans found jobs, 14,000 job seekers left the state labor force.
“This report emphasizes that, under John Kasich, Ohioans are not only having a hard time finding jobs, they are simply giving up hope of ever finding work,” McElhatton said. “Gov. Kasich will proclaim this month’s jobs report as a victory and, in doing so, he’s ignoring 25,000 Ohioans who in the last two months who have been forced to give up searching for jobs altogether.”
A spokesman for Kasich's reelection campaign, Connie Wehrkamp, was quick to disagree.
“Following years of job loss and skyrocketing unemployment under Democratic leadership, more than a quarter-million private sector jobs have been created since John Kasich took office and he works to grow that jobs number every day,” she said. “Ohio's economy is undoubtedly moving in the right direction but there's much more to do, and it's sad that the Democrats are trying to tear down Ohio instead of choosing to be a partner in our ongoing recovery."
Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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