(The Center Square) – Ohio’s job market took two big hits in January.
First, the state’s unemployment rate continued to rise. Secondly, revised numbers from the federal Bureau of Labor and the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services showed significantly fewer job gains in 2024 than previously indicated.
The same numbers showed the state’s job market continued to lag behind the nation.
“There is ample uncertainty in the future labor market for Ohioans,” Policy Matters Ohio Researcher Heather Smith said. “With unprecedented layoffs in the public sector and retaliatory tariffs impacting every industry, Ohio workers should brace themselves for impending inflationary prices. Ohio policymakers need to take steps to ease cost burdens on families and create high-quality, well-paying jobs.”
The state’s January unemployment rate came in at 4.6%, up from 4.5% in December and well above the national rate of 4%. Also, the labor participation rate remained flat at 62.4%, also below the national rate of 64.6%.
Ohio’s rate has either risen or remained unchanged in 11 of the last 12 months, and it has climbed more than a full percentage point since state leaders bragged about hitting historical lows for three consecutive months in May 2023.
January’s report also showed the state lost 2,800 private-sector jobs.
That followed a revision to the 2024 overall figures that showed Ohio created 34,000 fewer jobs than originally thought, cutting job growth in half for the year.
“The benchmark data highlights the importance of reexamining Ohio’s labor market history,” Smith said. “Ohioans have not been feeling the reported growth, and this data demonstrates why.”
Key state private-sector job losses in January occurred in the mining and logging sector, along with entertainment and recreation. The retail market grew by 400 jobs.
Overall, the number of unemployed Ohioans grew by 6,000 in January to 271,000.
“Ohio’s job market is trending in the wrong direction, and policymakers should recognize that taxpayer-funded subsidies to large companies are not producing the expected economic benefits,” said Rea S. Hederman Jr., executive director of the Economic Research Center and vice president of policy at The Buckeye Institute. “Good economic policy is not massive subsidies to favored companies but broad-based tax relief to Ohio families and workers.”
