Unemployment Remains at 4.9% in Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio’s unemployment rate was 4.9% in December, unchanged from the November rate and up a tenth of a point from the December 2015 rate of 4.8%.

Ohio’s rate last month, as reported this morning by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, compares with the U.S. December unemployment rate of 4.7%, 0.1 percentage points higher than in November 2016, and 0.3 percentage points lower than in December 2015.

The number of workers unemployed in Ohio last month was 282,000, up 4,000 from 278,000 in November, the Ohio Department of Job and Family services also reported this morning. The number of unemployed has increased by 9,000 in the past 12 months from 273,000.

Ohio’s nonagricultural wage and salary employment increased 10,300 over the month, from a revised 5,506,900 in November to 5,517,200 in December.

Goods-producing industries, at 909,500, lost 1,400 jobs as losses in construction exceeded gains in manufacturing and mining and logging. The private service-providing sector, at 3,828,800, added 13,100 jobs. Gains were reported in sectors including professional and business services, trade, transportation, and utilities, and educational and health.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.