Region's unemployment rate leaps to 5.7%

Central Ohio's unemployment rate jumped to 5.7 percent in June as jobless levels rose in all but one of Ohio's 88 counties, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported Tuesday.

The unemployment rate for the seven-county region was up from 4.9 percent in May and 5 percent in June 2007. It ranged from a high of 6.7 percent in Pickaway County and a statewide low of 4.9 percent in Delaware County.

The last time Central Ohio's jobless rate approached 6 percent was in January 2005, when it hit 5.8 percent.

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The state's jobless rate for the month hit 6.6 percent, up from 6.3 percent in May, more than a percentage point above the national unemployment rate of 5.5 percent.

In Columbus, the jobless rate jumped more than a percentage point to 6.4 percent, versus 5.3 percent in May. That's the largest jump among the state's three major cities and, unlike the recent past, not the lowest rate. Cincinnati's unemployment rate grew to 5.7 percent from 4.9 percent in May, while Cleveland's jobless rate hit 10.1 percent, up from 9.7 percent the month before.

The department plans to release July statewide unemployment statistics Aug. 15.