Tight labor market has benefited Ohio workers

Ohio employers are raising wages, boosting benefits and some are relaxing standards to keep and attract workers as the labor market tightens, according to a recent PNC Bank survey.

Have you received a raise? More than 35 percent of those surveyed said they have increased wages, 21 percent offered bonuses and 18 percent have raised benefits.

The survey also said nearly 30 percent have allowed more flexible work arrangements and 14 percent have relaxed hiring standards.

Dayton-area employers have complained in past months they have trouble finding workers to fill openings. Ohio’s unemployment rate was 4.6 percent in October, and in Dayton the jobless rate was 4.5 percent. That wasn’t the case for several years during and after the Great Recession when employers had their pick of applicants.

Bill Adams, a PNC senior economist, said Ohio has a tight labor force where businesses are competing for workers. That’s good news for workers because employers said this will continue in 2019.

Despite tight labor market conditions, business owners continue to be optimistic about the outlook for their companies and the state and U.S. economy, the survey showed.

The survey also found that 24 percent of employers plan to hire over the next six months, while 3 percent say they’ll cut staff. A key reason for hiring is because of a growth in business, the survey found.

Start for pot business

The pot business may soon get its long-awaited start in Ohio. The first medical marijuana dispensary in Ohio was approved to open last week, but it may be a while before customers can purchase products.

Reporter Laura Bischoff reported that CY+, located about three hours from Dayton near Steubenville, is the first of 56 state-licensed medical marijuana outlets to receive a certificate of operation. The dispensary is owned by Cresco Labs, which also owns the medical marijuana growing operation near Yellow Springs.

The dispensary will not be able to sell medical marijuana until the products are tested at state-certified testing labs, and state officials said that may not happen until the end of this month.

Mark Hamlin of the Ohio Department of Commerce told the Medical Marijuana Advisory Committee that the first batches will serve hundreds, not thousands, of patients. Likely, Ohio will see what played out in the early days in other states: A handful of dispensaries open, sell out in a matter of days, close again until more product is available, Bischoff reported.

Marijuana will soon be big business in Ohio. More than 2,000 Ohioans entered the state’s medical marijuana patient and caregiver registry within the first week of its operation, with more than half already paying fees to activate their cards, Bischoff reported.

Arcade work in place

It’s been closed for more than 20 years, but there seems to be some life in the Dayton Arcade, where developers hope to build new housing and a mix off office and retail offerings.

We reported last week that some demolition work is being done in the arcade’s iconic rotunda.

“The rubber is hitting the road now in terms of actual bids coming in for the work and putting all of that together,” Trace Shaughnessy, vice president of McCormack Baron Salazar, which is developing the residential component of the project, told reporter Cory Frolik.

Some have laughed at the prospects of something being built in what was once downtown’s popular shopping destination. But those are the same skeptics who said nothing would ever come to GM’s former Moraine plant.