Ohio's October Unemployment Rate Dropped To 5.6%

Ohio’s unemployment rate fell in October from the previous month, but remains above levels from the same time a year ago, before the coronavirus pandemic.

The number of workers unemployed in Ohio in October was 324,000, down from 469,000 in September, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services on Friday.

The agency said Ohio’s unemployment rate for October was 5.6 percent. That’s down from 8.3 percent in September, but still higher than October of 2019, when the unemployment rate was 4.1 percent.

Ohio's economy continues to show signs of weakness. On Thursday, the state said initial unemployment compensation filings for the week ending Nov. 14 were 14 ercent higher than the previous week. Ohio’s economy is largely open, although a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew that went into effect Thursday restricts some businesses from staying open late.

A number of Ohio's major cities are currently under stay-at-home advisories including Akron, Cleveland, Dayton, Columbus, and Toledo.

The seven-day rolling average of daily new coronavirus cases in Ohio has risen over the past two weeks from 3,748 new cases per day on Nov. 5 to 7,451 new cases per day on Nov. 19, according to an Associated Press analysis of data provided by The COVID Tracking Project.

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