After three months of a flat unemployment rate, state labor officials say Ohio’s official jobless rate increased slightly in January.
It was a very slight increase, just one-tenth of a percent to take the state’s unemployment rate to an even 5 percent.
That matches the rate from the previous January and keeps Ohio just above the nationwide average of 4.8 percent.
January was a good month in Ohio for construction, which added nearly 8,000 workers. Manufacturing and logging and mining also saw job gains.
January was not as kind to the educational and health services sector, which shrank by more than 10,000 people.
January also brought job cuts for leisure and hospitality.
From January 2016 to January 2017, the state says the overall work force grew by about 31,000 people.
