COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio’s unemployment rate was 4.3% in October, down from September’s 4.5% unemployment rate but remaining above the national unemployment rate of 4.1%.

October marked the first time Ohio’s unemployment rate fell since May 2023, when it hit an all-time low.

The decreased unemployment rate is due to another 6,400 additional nonfarm jobs in Ohio in the past month. This resulted in 5,682,000 jobs in October, compared to 5,675,600 in September, the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services reported.

The number of unemployed in Ohio was 256,000 in October, up from 263,000 in September.

Jobs are a count of the number of jobs filled in Ohio, regardless of where the worker lives. Someone who has two jobs counts as two. The unemployment rate is the percentage of unemployed people among the total number of Ohioans who are working or looking for work.

A year ago, Ohio’s unemployment rate was 3.6% and there were a total of 5,655,900 jobs.

Despite the decline, the state’s unemployment rate is still higher than at the start of the year, when it stood at 3.7% in both January and February.

Zachary Smith is the data reporter for cleveland.com. You can reach him at [email protected].