Staff report

The state’s unemployment rate dropped 0.4 percentage points in September, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported Thursday.

The agency said the rate was 4.8% for the month, down from 5% in August. Ohio’s nonagricultural wage and salary employment decreased 6,200 over the month, from a revised 5,730,000 in August to 5,723,800 in September.

For September, the number of unemployed workers was 287,000, down from 295,000 in August. The number of unemployed has increased by 26,000 in the past 12 months from 261,000. The September unemployment rate for Ohio increased 0.4 percentage points from 4.4% in September 2024.

The U.S. unemployment rate for September was 4.4%, up from 4.3% in August and up from 4.1% in September 2024.

In September, the labor force participation rate in Ohio was 62.4%, down from 62.5% in August and unchanged from 62.4% in September 2024. During the same period, the national labor force participation rate was 62.4%, up from 62.3% in August 2025 and down from 62.7% in September 2024.

Ohioans filed 10,099 initial unemployment claims last week, which was 2,863 more than the previous week.

From Nov. 30 to Dec. 6, Ohioans filed 47,653 continued unemployment claims, which was 5,129 more than the previous week.

The total number of claims filed for the period was 57,752.

County, city, and metropolitan area unemployment rates for September will be posted Tuesday, the agency said.