The jobless rate for March was 8.9%, down three-tenths of a percent from February.
“We were last below 9% in January of 2009. Another good point of comparison is that a year ago, Ohio’s unemployment rate peaked at 10.5%, so now we’re more than a percent and a half below the peak.”
Benjamin Johnson with the state Department of Job and Family Services says this is the 13th consecutive month unemployment has declined. While this is good news, Johnson says there are three things experts are worried about going forward:
“One is uncertainty about the federal budget – now, there is a compromise now so that should alleviate some of that - supply lines with Japan and the aftereffects of the tsunami, and the other one is the price of gasoline.”
The biggest gains were in manufacturing and educational and health services, with the largest job losses in government, leisure and hospitality and information.