Aug. 22--COLUMBUS -- Ohio's unemployment rate increased to 11.2 percent in July, a 26-year high, but there may be some light at the end of the jobless tunnel.

At least that's the view of economist Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics in Pepper Pike, a Cleveland suburb.

Mayland had been predicting that the state's unemployment rate would hit 12 percent -- but on Friday, Aug. 21, said he's no longer sure that will happen.

"You kind of live by the manufacturing sword. You die by the manufacturing sword," said Mayland. "Now we may be resurrected by the manufacturing sword."

The success of the federal government's Cash for Clunkers program has prompted hiring at auto plants, including GM's Lordstown plant in northeastern Ohio where Cobalts are produced, said Mayland.

Also, auto inventories are low, a second reason for ratcheting up production and hiring, he said.

The state unemployment rate, 11.1 percent in June, has increased for 11 straight months but Mayland said it's now possible that there could be a decline in August.

In the Dayton-area, Veronia Adkins, Kettering branch manager for Spherion, a recruiting and staffing company, said she is seeing some encouraging signs. For example, a local delivery company that was down to one worker loading and unloading shipments called looking for five workers.

"I actually think over the last month it's started to pick up," Adkins said.

Yet her company's Ohio Employee Confidence Index, prepared by Harris Interactive, showed workers still are wary. The index decreased by 3.3 points in July to 42.3 points.

Also, the survey found:

--56 percent of workers believe the economy is weakening, a jump of 12 percentage points from June.

--36 percent of workers lack confidence in their ability to land a new job, a 15-percentage point jump from June.

--Nearly half of workers -- 48 percent -- say they are not likely to seek a new job, an increase of 18 percentage points from June.

In July in Ohio, "job gains in service-producing industries were partially offset by job losses in the goods-producing sector," Douglas Lumpkin, director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, said in a press release. His department released the July jobless numbers.

Overall, the number of unemployed workers in Ohio in July was 664,000, up from 663,000 in June. During the past 12 months, the number of unemployed has grown by 265,000 from 399,000. In July 2008, the Ohio unemployment rate was 6.7 percent.

Nationally, this July's unemployment rate was 9.4 percent, down slightly from 9.5 percent in June.

Among the states, Michigan's 15 percent rate was the highest.

Contact this reporter at (614) 224-1608 or whershey@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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