Another blow today for people in the Tri-State trying to find jobs. The unemployment rate has inched up in Ohio and Kentucky and declined slightly in Indiana.
Ohio's rate is now 11.2 percent. Kentucky's is 11 percent Indiana's is at 10.6 percent.
Local job officials say the numbers don't tell the whole story.
Bruce Jewitt, director of Butler County Job and Family Services, says even more people are out of work.
"The unemployment numbers don't reflect all the people who are out of work and have given up looking for jobs," says Jewitt.
"They don't reflect all the people who used to be working full time jobs and are now working part time jobs or multiple part time jobs,” said Jewitt. “And so, I think the problem is still more severe than those numbers show."
Darryl Bryant, of Hamilton, is a regular at the Work Force One job center on Route 4 in Fairfield. He lost his job over a year ago.
"I worked for a company that dealt with auto manufacturing mostly and when business started going down, they just started going down and they just couldn't afford to keep the Cincinnati office open," he said.
Bryant has been hired for temporary work over the last several months, but he says he needs a full time job for medical insurance.
Plus, with temporary work, "There's no security of when you're going to get that next check," he says.
Bryant is not surprised by Ohio's rate.
"I know a lot of people who are out of work, looking for work. There's just nothing out there and if there is a job position open, there are so many people applying for it. It's just hard to find anything," says Bryant.
Ohio's new rate is up 4.5% from this time last year.
Jewitt says there's a reason Ohio is feeling it more than some other states.
"It's traditionally had such a manufacturing economy and the manufacturing jobs, while they're not necessarily disappearing, they are going away at a faster rate than other jobs," says Jewitt.
The unemployment rate hasn't been this high in Kentucky or Ohio in 25 years.
