who might comment on his behalf.

2 in job creation

Ohio added more jobs than every state except California last month, and the state unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in more than four years, according to preliminary figures from the state jobs department Friday. longchamp outlet last month, government data show.Ohio's jobless rate, which declined for the 10th consecutive month, edged down from 7.4 percent in April to 7.3 percent in May the lowest level since October 2008.May unemployment was down from 8.8 percent a year ago, and the number of unemployed Ohioans has dropped by 86,000 in the past 12 months as the state continues to recover from the last recession faster than the nation as a whole, said Ben Johnson, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services."Ohio's unemployment rate has been below the national average for some time, and that gap has been widening recently," Johnson said.In the past year, Ohio's unemployment rate has fallen by hugo boss 1.5 percentage points, compared to 0.8 percentage point decline nationally. "What we've seen in Ohio is job creation and job growth across a wide range of sectors," Johnson said.Ohio continues to coach outlet be buoyed by a strong manufacturing sector, which added 6,400 jobs last month and 21,600 jobs during the past 12 months, Friday's jobs report showed.Angelia Erbaugh, president of the Dayton Region Manufacturers Association, said the demand for skilled workers among the association's members is unrelenting."In my industry, it continues to be that members can't find enough people with the right skill sets,'' said Erbaugh, whose association coach outlet represents 2,400 manufacturers in a 12 county area. "There's been absolutely no let up in that.''The longchamp outlet demand for workers also surged in professional and business services, which added 4,500 jobs in May. Education and health services gained 4,300. And an uptick in hiring heading into the summer vacation period boosted leisure and hospitality employment by 2,900. State government continued to cut jobs, about 1,000 last month.Johnson cautioned, however, that the data is preliminary and subject to revision. Ohio employment for April, for example, was revised to show a smaller loss than the 3,400 net loss originally reported."We think the economy will continue to improve, and we're really pleased with the healthy job number for May," he said. "It's always worth keeping in mind, though, that one month doesn't make a trend. And these numbers will be revised."Still, the May report was viewed as a positive sign by many economists. Bill Even, an economics professor at Miami University, noted that more Ohioans entered the labor force last month, indicating workers may be sensing an improving job market. Ohio's labor force grew by 25,000 in May on an unadjusted basis."It's especially encouraging when you see the unemployment rate drop and the labor force growing, because then you know it really is because a larger number of people are actually employed as opposed to workers becoming discouraged and dropping out" of the labor force, Even said. economy overall as the financial crisis in Europe weighed on employers. Job growth was nearly 100,000 less than had been expected, and the national unemployment rate rose for the first time in a year to 8.2 percent."Things are heading in the right direction and that's great to see, but we're far from being out of the woods,'' Gov. John Kasich said in a statement. "Headwinds from Washington don't help, and I remain concerned about our future progress. job growth.Democrats, however, argue that regulation has had little impact on jobs, which have grown at about the same pace as the overall economy."Gov. Kasich's wrong prediction that Ohio jobs would trend in a negative direction this month highlights just how wildly out of touch he and Mitt Romney are on Ohio's economy," Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern said in a statement. He was referring to a recent appearance by Kasich on the NBC television program "Meet the Press," in which the governor predicted a hiring slowdown in Ohio.Even said a combination of factors including increased consumer spending, which drives 70 percent of the economy, and Ohio's relatively business friendly environment have contributed to Ohio's job growth."Why is Ohio doing better than most of the states?'' Even asked. "There's rising demand for automobiles, for example, and Ohio is going to benefit more from that than a state like Iowa or Nebraska."But clearly businesses, when they're starting new locations or ramping up production, they're giving considerable thought about whether to locate in Ohio based on the state policies,'' he added.Since the beginning of the year, Ohio employers have increased nonfarm payrolls by more than 64,000 jobs.Still, Ohio has a long way to go to reach full recovery, according to the Cleveland based think tank Policy Matters Ohio.Since June 2009, the official end of the last recession, Ohio has regained only about one fourth of the nearly 400,000 jobs lost during the recession. In the past 12 months, the state job total has grown by 75,700, or 1.5 percent. At that rate, it will take more than three years to generate the additional 261,500 jobs needed to return Ohio to pre recession levels, Policy Matters concluded."May's employment numbers are encouraging after the job losses reported in March and April," said Hannah Halbert of Policy Matters. "We will need to see many more months like this to erase the jobs deficit from the last two recessions in Ohio.".