by J.D. Davidson
Despite remaining below the national average, Ohio’s job market dipped in October.
According to figures released by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, the state’s unemployment average increased from 3.4% to 3.6%, while the labor force participation rate fell from 62.1% to 62%.
“While Ohio’s unemployment rate remains below the national average, both the state and the country saw unemployment increase, indicating a slight cooling of the job market. Despite this uptick in unemployment, Ohio’s job market is strong, and a record number of Ohioans are working,” said Rea Hederman Jr., executive director of the Economic Research Center and vice president of policy at The Buckeye Institute.
The October figures showed employers added 7,700 jobs in October, but a household survey showed 17,000 people in the state either lost or left jobs.
“The two surveys used in Ohio’s jobs report were in conflict in October,” Hederman said. “While the household survey showed an uptick in unemployment, the payroll survey showed a record number of Ohioans working. This conflict is not unusual, but it is something to watch over the coming months.”
Ohio Policy Matters said the difference in the reports could signal a slowdown or could have picked up auto workers on strike last month. The group said next month’s numbers would be important to see a potential trend.
The number of Ohioans working fell from 5.62 million in September to 5.6 in October.
In October, all three major job sectors grew, including an overall gain of 5,300 jobs in good producers. Construction showed 6,000 new jobs. Manufacturing lost 600 jobs, but those figures also factor in the thousands of UAW workers on strike last month.
“These new jobs continue Ohio’s fastest jobs recovery in recent history,” Policy Matters Ohio Economist Michael Shields said. “The COVID recession was the deepest downturn since the Great Depression, and federal lawmakers dispatched unprecedented resources scaled to the size of the crisis. This rapid and continued recovery marks a triumph of wise public policy.”
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An Ohio native, J.D. Davidson is a veteran journalist with more than 30 years of experience in newspapers in Ohio, Georgia, Alabama and Texas. He has served as a reporter, editor, managing editor and publisher. Davidson is a regional editor for The Center Square.
