COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP): Ohio officials say the state's unemployment rate dropped slightly in January to 6.9 percent.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services said Friday that the unemployment rate in December was 7.2 percent, which was down from 7.4 percent in November.

The state's rate has been running slightly higher than the national rate, which was 6.6 percent in January.

The number of unemployed Ohio workers was 416,000 in December, or 11,000 fewer than in the previous month.