Ohio Reports Record Low Unemployment in April

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio’s unemployment rate was 3.7% in April, down a 10th of a percentage point from March’s 3.8% rate, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported Friday morning.

The seasonally adjusted April rate, which also was down from 3.9% in April 2022, is the lowest since 1976, when the series for reporting unemployment started, the state department reported in a news release. The U.S. unemployment rate for April 2023 was 3.4%, down from 3.5% in March 2023, and down from 3.6% in April 2022.

The number of workers unemployed in Ohio in April was 211,000, down from 218,000 in March. The number of unemployed decreased by 12,000 in the past 12 months from 223,000.

The labor force participation rate in Ohio was 61.8%, up from 61.5% in March 2023 and unchanged from 61.8% in April 2022. During the same period, the national labor force participation rate was 62.6%, unchanged from 62.6% in March 2023 and up from 62.2% in April 2022.

Nonagricultural wage and salary employment increased 18,100 over the month, from a revised 5,590,500 in March to 5,608,600 in April. Employment in goods-producing industries, at 943,000, increased 2,500 with gains in construction; manufacturing; and mining and logging (+200). The private service-providing sector, at 3,896,000, increased 15,900 as gains in leisure and hospitality; professional and business services; private educational and health services; other services; trade, transportation, and utilities; and financial activities surpassed losses in information.

Government employment, at 769,600, decreased 300 as losses in local government exceeded gains in federal government. State government employment did not change over the month.

From April 2022 to April 2023, nonagricultural wage and salary employment increased 84,000. Employment in goods-producing industries increased 18,000. Manufacturing increased 9,400 as gains in durable goods outpaced losses in nondurable goods. Construction added 7,900 jobs, and mining and logging gained 700 jobs.

Employment in the private service-providing sector increased 61,300 as gains in private educational and health services; leisure and hospitality; other services; financial activities; and professional and business services outweighed losses in trade, transportation and utilities and information. Government employment increased 4,700 with gains in federal, state and local government.

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.