Over the past two months, Ohio has had a dramatic decrease in the unemployment rate and at the same time a reduction in the number of jobs.  Usually when the unemployment rate declines the number of jobs increases.  Over the past two months Ohio’s unemployment rate has decreased from 11.2% to 10.1% and the number of jobs has decreased by 30,200.  Congress is currently looking at proposals for another extension of unemployment insurance.  Senator Sherrod Brown is co-sponsoring a plan that would add 14 weeks of unemployment insurance, and give an additional six weeks in states that have unemployment rates exceeding a three month average of 8.5%.  James Newton, chief economic adviser for Commerce National Bank in Columbus, is concerned that Ohio’s unemployment statistics could make the state ineligible for the extended unemployment insurance. State officials think that it is unlikely that the rate will continue to drop in the next few months; however, the unemployment numbers may be off because thousands of Ohio workers may have become discouraged from job searches and/or the survey process that generates the numbers may have flaws. 

To read Columbus Dispatch coverage of this issue, please visit: www.dispatch.com/live/content/business/ stories/2009/10/25/jobless_quirk.ART_ART_10-25-09_D1_15FF9CF.html.