Ohio`s jobless rate in April hit the highest point in 25 years, boosted again by losses of jobs in the auto industry and other manufacturing and construction jobs.

Figures released Friday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services put the rate at 10.2 percent, up from 9.7 percent in March, and an increase of 4 percentage points from 6.2 percent a year earlier.

The 10.2 percent jobless figure statewide was the highest since December 1983, when 10.4 percent of Ohioans were out of work, according to the state agency. The rate was 10.1 percent in January 1984.

Ohio`s all-time jobless rate of 13.8 percent was recorded in December 1982 and January 1983.

“We`re bringing in twice as many people as before and sending out about a third of what we usually do this time of year,” Tom Payne, operations manager for the Middle Avenue branch of the nationwide temporary staffing agency Minute Man Inc., said Friday. “It`s really bad out there right now. There`s not much work to be had. All those companies that have laid off their own people don`t want to take temporaries in.”

Payne, who`s been with the temporary hiring agency nine years, said the lack of jobs for temporary workers is the worst he`s seen.

“A lot of companies are cutting down to 32 hours and four days a week to cut out all overtime just to keep running,“ he said. “I`m taking extended lunch hours just to keep things going here.”

The number of Ohioans working in April stood at 5.13 million – a drop of 25,200 from March.

Some 608,000 people statewide were out of work in April, compared with 578,000 jobless Ohioans in March.

In the past year, 235,000 more Ohioans have joined the ranks of the unemployed. In April 2008, the state`s jobless rate stood at 6.2 percent, which translated to 373,000 people not working.

Nationally, the jobless rate stood at 8.9 percent in April, a nearly half-percent rise from March.

Due to the high number of Ohioans employed in the auto industry and manufacturing, it is going to take the Buckeye State longer than others to rebound from the recession, according to Brian Harter, a spokesman for Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Harter said the state can expect to see jobless figures continue to edge up over the next few months before they begin to drop.

Contact Steve Fogarty at 329-7146 or sfogarty@chroniclet.com.

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