Nino Alexander

Ohio's unemployment rate was 5.1 percent in February, with the state gaining 15,200 jobs, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported Friday.

(Associated Press photo)

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Ohio's unemployment rate was 5.1 percent in February, with the state gaining 15,200 jobs, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported Friday.

The jobless rate was 5 percent in January. In February 2016, Ohio's unemployment rate was 5 percent.

Ohio gained the second largest number of jobs in February, the Labor Department reported Friday. Illinois was first with 25,600 Ohio and New Jersey was third at 12,600.

While Ohio came in second in terms of total number of jobs gained, the state didn't have the highest monthly percentage growth in employment. Montana and Nebraska, where employment increased 0.6 percent, had the highest percent growth. Arkansas and New Mexico followed, each with a 0.5 percent increase in jobs.

"Last year was Ohio's worst year for job growth since the end of the 2007 recession, (which ran from December 2007 to June 2009,)" said Hannah Halbert, researcher with Policy Matters Ohio, which tracks Ohio's jobs figures. "Today's report is good news for the state. The real test is whether this is a blip or a real reversal of Ohio's post-recession slog."

The sectors in Ohio gaining jobs in February included construction, where employment increased 6,300. Leisure and hospitality gained 4,000 jobs, employment in health services was up by 3,900 and trade, transportation and utilities gained 2,000 jobs.

Sectors losing jobs included state government, where employment was down by 3,100 jobs. (However, local government gained 1,800 jobs and employment in federal government was up by 300 jobs.) Employment in financial activities decreased by 400 in February and the information industry, which includes media, lost 300 jobs.

"It's a jump-out-of-your-seat kind of jobs report," said Jon Keeling, an ODJFS spokesman, in an email.

He said the strong showing "doesn't mean we're ringing any victory bells."

"There's more work to do and we'll keep doing everything we can to grow opportunity so everyone looking for a job can get one," he wrote.

George Zeller of Cleveland, an economic research analyst, said Ohio's job growth in February had to be put into perspective.

"Ohio's job growth rate during February 2017 was 0.85 percent, still less than 1 percent," he said in an email. "The United States job growth rate during February 2017 was 1.66 percent. Thus, Ohio's growth was below the USA national average by a large amount in February 2017."

"February 2017 was the 51st consecutive month when Ohio's job growth

was below the USA national average, including all months between

December 2012 and January 2017," Zeller wrote.

He said Ohio only gained 49,700 jobs in 2016, according to ODJFS data released Friday based on an annual revision.

"That is the fewest number of jobs gained in Ohio in any year since 2009," Zeller said. "The revision showed that Ohio had 138,100 fewer jobs than had been previously released."

In February, Ohio had 294,000 unemployed workers, an increase of 7,000 from January. In order to be counted as unemployed, a person must be both jobless and actively seeking work. This means that the unemployment rate can increase as more jobless workers resume their job searches as they become more confident that they can find work.

In February, Ohio's labor force, which includes those working as well as those actively seeking work, increased by 35,000 to more than 5.7 million.

The U.S. unemployment rate, released March 10, was 4.7 percent. The nation gained 235,000 jobs.

Here are some highlights from the U.S. jobs report.

Unemployment by race: The jobless rate for Asians was 3.4 percent in February, down from 3.8 percent a year earlier. The unemployment rate for whites was 4.1 percent, down from 4.3 percent in February 2016. The Hispanic jobless rate was 5.6 percent, up slightly from 5.5 percent a year earlier. The black unemployment rate at 8.1 percent, was down from 8.8 percent in February 2016.

Unemployment by gender: The unemployment rate for men was 4.3 percent, down from 4.5 percent in February 2016. The jobless rate for women was 4.3 percent, down from 4.5 percent a year earlier.

Labor force: The labor force participation rate, at 63.0 percent. A year earlier it was 62.9 percent. The labor force participation rate is the percentage of the population that is either employed or jobless, but actively seeking work.

In Ohio, the labor force participation rate was 62.6 percent for February, unchanged from a year earlier, the state reported Friday.

The U.S. employment-population ratio was 60.0 percent in February. A year earlier, it was 59.8 percent. This represents the percentage of the labor force that is currently employed to the total working-age population.

Ohio's employment-population ratio was 59.4 percent in February and 59.5 percent a year earlier, the state reported Friday.

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