(THE CENTER SQUARE) – Ohio added jobs in August but the state’s unemployment rate rose, moving higher than the national rate, according to figures released by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Ohio’s unemployment rate in August jumped from 3.9% to 4.0%, while the national rate stood at 3.7%. At the same time, the state added 7,800 private-sector jobs.

“The household survey bad news for Ohioans with an increase in the unemployment rate and a decrease in the labor force participation rate, meaning there were fewer Ohioans in the job market and those who were, had a harder time finding work,” said Rea Hederman Jr., executive director of the Economic Research Center at The Buckeye Institute and vice president of policy. “Ohio’s labor force participation rate contrasted with the national rate, which saw more workers enter the job market in August.”

By contrast, a payroll survey of businesses showed the state has added 79,100 private-sector jobs in the last year. However, Ohio still has more than 80,000 fewer private jobs than it did before the pandemic.

“Despite the mixed bag of good and bad news, this jobs report is only one month of data and does not present a worrying trend alone. The bigger story is that Ohio’s jobs not growing as fast as it was in the spring,” Hederman said. “But opportunities are on the horizon. With Intel breaking ground on its new manufacturing plant, there should be greater job growth in the future, and policymakers must take action now to ensure that Ohio has enough workers to fill these new jobs.”

Also, Ohio was one of 18 states that had unemployment claims last week higher than the same week in 2019, before the pandemic, according to a report from the personal finance website WalletHub.