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State Jobless Rate up Sharply in May

The state says Ohio's unemployment rate was 6.3% in May, up from 5.6% in April.

The figures released Friday show that the number of unemployed workers in May was 380,000, up from 335,000 in April. The number of unemployed people has increased by 43,000 in the past 12 months.

The rate this May was up from the 5.6% rate a year earlier.

The state's 6.3% unemployment figure tops the national rate of 5.5%.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services says the sharp rise in the unemployment rate from April is largely due to the high volume of workers who began or resumed job searches in May. While employment also increased, the supply of job seekers outpaced current hiring demands.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)