(The Center Square) – As Ohio’s unemployment rises, small businesses continue to struggle to fill open positions.
A new jobs report from the National Federation of Independent Business shows 40% of small business owners had job openings they couldn’t fill in March. That’s 2 points higher than February.
While the group doesn’t provide individual data for specific states, NFIB State Director Chris Ferruso said businesses around Ohio feel the same hiring crunch.
“Ohio’s small business owners continue to report challenges in finding qualified applicants for their open positions,” Ferruso said. “There is still work to do, but we appreciate the General Assembly prioritizing this issue and strengthening our workforce.”
Overall, 53% of small businesses say they tried to hire or were hiring in March, the same figure as February. Nearly half of those said few or no qualified applications for the open spots.
The report showed the highest job openings were in construction, transportation and manufacturing. Construction job openings were up 10 points in March, compared to February and 12 points from a year ago. Transportation openings rose 23 points from February.
Figures from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services showed Ohio’s unemployment continued to rise in February.
The state’s jobless rate rose from 4.6% in January to 4.7%, higher than the national average of 4.1%, which is also increasing. Ohio’s figures continue a trend of rising 12 out of the last 13 months and have reached a level higher than at any point in the last three years.
While the state’s labor force participation rate grew to 62.5% and passed the falling national average of 62.4%, analysts say slow growth in the last half of 2024 is pushing Ohio’s unemployment numbers higher.
Also, the report showed 25,000 new private sector jobs were added in the state in February.
Ohio’s rising unemployment numbers and the NFIB report come as recently released federal inflation data showed prices rose faster than expected in February, contradicting federal data from earlier this month.
