Jun. 24--Summit County's unemployment rate in May didn't change from April -- it remained at 9.7 percent, according to state figures released Tuesday.

A year ago, the county had an unemployment rate of 5.4 percent.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services report showed Summit County's jobless rate remained better than Ohio's 10.8 percent seasonally adjusted rate for May while also above the national jobless rate of 9.4 percent. The county had 28,900 unemployed people out of a labor force of 297,900.

Akron's unemployment rate was also unchanged at 10.5 percent in May compared with April. The rate in May last year was 5.9 percent.

Cuyahoga Falls saw its unemployment rate drop slightly to 9 percent in May from 9.1 percent in April. The city's rate in May 2008 was 5 percent.

While unemployment remains high locally, companies are doing niche hiring, said Carol McLaughlin, senior branch manager for staffing agency Spherion in the Akron-Canton area.

"We are seeing employment opportunities increasing, but it's not in bulk," she said. "It's one-sies, two-sies."

Spherion has noticed that there has been some interest in entry-level factory hiring, but on the order of 15 or so people a month, McLaughlin said. There is also added interest in clerical workers in the insurance and customer-service areas, she said.

Companies are providing some training, but job applicants are expected to have at least minimal typing, data-entry and Microsoft Word and Excel skills, she said.

Job seekers also need to know that their personal credit score might play a factor in whether they are hired, she said.

"A lot of companies are doing more intense background checks to see if job candidates have good credit," McLaughlin said. "It does make a difference."

Spherion has an influx of job-seekers, but company hiring remains stagnant overall, she said.

The trade group American Staffing Association this week said that its research shows a sustained upturn in staffing industry employment would signal the end of the current recession and that overall non-farm employment should begin to grow about three months later.

County and large city jobless rates elsewhere in Northeast Ohio were:

--Cuyahoga County: 10.1 percent, up from 9 percent in April and 6.9 percent a year ago. Cleveland had a 12.2 percent unemployment rate, up from 11 percent in April and 8.8 percent in May 2008.

--Medina County: 9.3 percent, up from 8.3 percent in April and 5.7 percent a year ago.

--Portage County: 10 percent, down from 10.2 percent in April and up from 5.5 percent in May 2008.

--Stark County: 11.1 percent, down from 11.3 percent in April and up from 6.1 percent a year ago. Canton's jobless rate fell to 12 percent from 12.3 percent in April and was up from 7.5 percent a year ago.

--Wayne County: 10 percent, up from 9.7 percent in April and 5 percent a year ago.

Rates for May decreased in 45 of the 88 counties, according to the state.

Statewide, county jobless rates ranged from a low of 6.7 percent in Delaware County to a high of 17.1 percent in Williams County.

Besides Delaware County, the three other counties with the lowest unemployment rates at 8 percent or lower were Holmes, 7.5 percent; Lawrence, 7.7 percent; and Geauga at 8 percent.

Counties with unemployment rates above 15 percent were Defiance, 16.1 percent; Crawford, 15.8 percent; Huron, 15.4 percent, and Van Wert, 15.2 percent.

Jim Mackinnon can be reached at 330-996-3544 or jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com.

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