CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The state's jobless rate fell in November to its lowest level in two years, based on household reports about who's working and who isn't.

Yet employers say they cut 5,600 positions last month, with the largest reductions in retail jobs, management, government and - somewhat surprisingly - education.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services released contradictory statistics Friday, based on a set of surveys of consumers and businesses.

The agency said the unemployment rate dropped to 4.8 percent, from 5.1 percent in October. The last time Ohio experienced such sharp monthly improvement - a contraction of 0.3 percentage points - was in January 2014, a spokesman wrote in an email.

The household survey found that employment increased by 27,000 workers from October to November, based on seasonally adjusted data, while unemployment fell by 17,000 people. The U.S. jobless rate, meanwhile, held steady at 4.1 percent.

But employers in Ohio painted a less rosy picture. In a separate survey, businesses said they slashed 3,300 jobs, while the public sector cut 2,300 positions. Hiring in real estate, finance and manufacturing - all up from October - couldn't offset losses in other sectors.

The household and employer surveys don't always move in lockstep. And Friday's numbers are preliminary. So they're likely to be revised as more data trickles in.

Employers reported a net gain of 38,600 workers in the state over the last year, driven by health care, education, hospitality, entertainment, real estate, finance and manufacturing. The private sector has added 48,300 workers since November 2016, according to Friday's report. But government cost-cutting offset roughly 20 percent of that growth, as public entities pared their headcount by 9,700.