Unemployment increased in six of central Ohio's seven counties last month, according to data released today by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
Franklin County's unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent in July, up from 9 percent in June. The jobless rate in Licking County decreased slightly to 10.2 percent in July from 10.3 percent in June.
Dublin maintains the lowest unemployment rate in the state for all major cities at 6.6 percent.
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The following data was prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). These estimates are by place of residence and are NOT seasonally adjusted.
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Only cities with populations of 25,000 or more are included in this database.
Shares of Big Lots surged more than 9 percent in morning trading on news that the Columbus-based closeout retailer reported record second-quarter profits, surpassing expectations. It also raised its earnings forecast.
Big Lots' earnings came to $28.4 million, or 34 cents per share, compared to $26 million or 32 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated a profit of 30 cents per share.
The struggling national economy did have some impact at Big Lots: While profits were up, net sales decreased 1.7 percent, to $1.09 billion, compared to $1.1 billion for the same period last year. Comparable-store sales for stores open at least two years fell 2.4 percent for the quarter.
The company explained that profits rose despite the sales decline because of an improvement in its gross margin rate - which includes such areas as freight costs and higher initial markup on merchandise.
Big Lots raised its profit outlook for the year, to between $1.92 and $2.02 per share, up from a previous prediction in May of between $1.85 and $1.95.
Shares of Big Lots stock were trading at $26.29, up $2.26, or 9.4 percent, at 10:15 a.m.
COLUMBUS -- Ohio's unemployment rate ticked up a notch to 11.2 percent in July, another level not seen for more than a quarter century.
Last month's rate was up from June's 11.1 percent and was 4.5 percentage points higher than the July 2008 rate of 6.7 percent.
Spokesman Brian Harter with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services says the last time the state had unemployment of 11.2 percent was in August 1983.
Department Director Douglas Lumpkin said in a statement today that last month's gains in services jobs were partially offset by losses in manufacturing.
Officials say the number of unemployed in Ohio was 664,000 during July, up from 663,000 in June. The number of out-of-work Ohioans has increased by 265,000 in the last 12 months.
More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that
I can't wait for them to finish so that I can tellmy own story that's not only better,
but also more directly involves me.
Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realizeyou're wrong.
I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink tohave fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?
Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180
and walking back in thedirection from which you came, you have to first do something like
check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure
that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're crazy by randomly switching directions on
the sidewalk.
I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I wasyounger.
The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard.
Thisrecently became all too apparent to me and consequently I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.
Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the "people you may know"feature on FaceBook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends with?
There is a great need for sarcasm font.
Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger andsuddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.
I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomesstressful to watch it with other people. I'll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone's laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I'm still the onlyone who really, really gets it.
How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand thantake 2 trips to bring my groceries in.
The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finisha text.
A recent study has shown that playing beer pong contributes to thespread of mono and the flu. Yeah, if you suck at it.
Was learning cursive really necessary?
LoL - has gone from meaning, "laugh out loud" to "I have nothing else tosay".
I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
My brother's Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads.Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquiredabout the name. He explained, "Cuz we beat you, and you hate us."
How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod andsmile because you still didn't hear what they said?
I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up toprevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!
While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road andinstinctively swerved to avoid it...thanks Mario Kart.
MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure Iknow how to get out of my neighborhood.
Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how theperson died.
Bad decisions make good stories.
Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier everyyear?
If Carmen San Diego and Waldo ever got together, their offspring wouldprobably just be completely invisible.
You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at workwhen you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.
Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't wantto have to restart my collection.
There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are goingto die after leaning your chair back a little too far.
I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me ifI want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
"Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this ever.
I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Darn it!), But when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phoneand run away?
As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, butno matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.
Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still notknow what time it is.
I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not toanswer when they call.
I think that if, years down the road when I'm trying to have a kid, Ifind out that I'm sterile, most of my disappointment will stem from the fact that I was not aware of my condition in college.
Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn't know what do towith it.
I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday orSaturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.
