According to the latest report issued Friday from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services , Ohio's unemployment rate hit a 25-year high in March as job losses continued to mount. The unemployment rate in Ohio rose from a revised 95 percent in February to 9.7 percent in March, the highest rate since April 1984.

ODJFS spokesman Brian Harter said:

"We continue to see a reflection of the economic trend that's going on across the country here in Ohio. In particular in this part of the country, that has meant a large loss in manufacturing jobs."

The state's unemployment rate gone up by more than 2 percent since October and November 2008, when it held steady at 7.3 percent.

The number of unemployed in Ohio during March was 578,000, which was up from 567,000 in February. In just the past year, the number of jobless has increased by 211,000.

The state is expecting several more months of losses and very little recovery in the unemployment rate until early 2010, said Harter.