The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services says Ohio's unemployment rate fell in September to 10.1 percent from 10.8 percent in August.
But, spokesman Brian Harter says in an interview with WOSU News that the improvement has little to do with any job creation last month.
Instead, Harter says the labor pool is shrinking. Many would-be workers have stopped looking for jobs.
"People are either just getting frustrated with the job market and not looking for work anymore or they're finding other sources of income within their household or going back to school," he says. "Factors such as that, those are the reasons that the rate continues to drop here in Ohio at this time."
Harter adds that Ohio non-farm payrolls fell by more than 5,900 jobs last month.
Click the listen icon to hear WOSU's Tom Borgerding interview Brian Harter