Ohio Lost 1,500 Jobs Last Month, New Report Reveals

Roughly 1,500 fewer people were working in the Buckeye State last month compared to the month prior, data released Friday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services suggests.

Overall for the year so far, the state has shed more than 11,000 jobs, according to ODJFS numbers, with negative job growth in five of the last nine months. Longer term looks somewhat better — over the last 12 months, the state saw job growth of around .4 percent. Even that positive trend, however, lags the nation’s 1.4 percent job growth rate for that period.

The state’s unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2 percent, up from 4.1 percent in August but lower than the 4.6 percent Ohio clocked in September last year. The Ohio unemployment rate also lags the nation’s 3.5 percent unemployment level.

Ohio’s construction industry lost 1,700 jobs in the month, and the manufacturing industry lost 1,400. The mining and logging industries saw a slight uptick of 100 new positions. The state also shed 2,900 government jobs at all levels but gained 4,400 service industry jobs.

Over the past 12 months, the so-called “goods producing sector” — including manufacturing, construction, mining and logging — saw 5,500 fewer jobs in Ohio, fueled mostly by the loss of 7,600 construction jobs offset by 1,800 new jobs in manufacturing.

The monthly data from ODJFS is preliminary and is at times subject to revision. Some unique factors — including an ongoing strike at General Motors — can sometimes cloud the picture provided by the reports.

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This article appears in Oct 16-22, 2019.