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Ohio's jobless rate goes up

For the first time in nine months, Ohio’s unemployment rate went up last month.   The news has the political spin machines working on high speed.

Ohio’s jobless rate was 5.7 in July, up from 5.5 in June. Ben Johnson with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services says that’s not reason to think that means the state’s economy is failing:

“We don’t think that the overall trend has changed. We believe that the economy is slowly improving and will continue to slowly improve.

A spokeswoman for Governor John Kasich’s campaign says Ohio has come a long way in the past three years but is clearly not out of the woods yet, and she says Kasich’s policies are working.

But the Ohio Democratic Party is quick to point out this is the third straight month the number of employed Ohioans has shrunk. And Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Ed FitzGerald says when it comes to helping Ohio’s middle class, Kasich’s record is as unimpressive as this month’s job report.