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Group Questions Kind Of Job Gains As Jobless Rate Dips

Ohio's jobless rate has dropped for the last four months. Hannah Holbert is an analyst for the liberal-leaning labor research group Policy Matters Ohio, and says it is good news.

HOLBERT: "There's still job growth, but it's where is this job growth happening? What kinds of jobs are happening? And are these jobs paying the kinds of wages that people can go out, support their family, and spend some money in our local economy?"

Halbert says Ohio continues to under-perform the national average in job growth, and there are 214,000 fewer Ohioans in the labor force than there were before the recession.
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The state's unemployment rate dropped to 4.8 percent. The national unemployment rate was at 5.6 percent in December.

The Department of Job and Family Services said that Ohio had 278,000 unemployed workers in December. That's down 9,000 compared with November.

Tony Ganzer has reported from Phoenix to Cairo, and was the host of 90.3's "All Things Considered." He was previously a correspondent with the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, covering issues like Swiss banks, Parliament, and refugees. He earned an M.A. in International Relations (University of Leicester); and a B.Sc. in Journalism (University of Idaho.) He speaks German, and a bit of French.