Ohio’s big cities pull away in job growth

When it came to job creation in Ohio’s metro areas last year, there was Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati, and then everyone else.

The three biggest metro areas added 40,200 jobs from December 2018 through last month, according to Ohio Department of Job and Family Services data released Tuesday.

The remaining metro areas lost 7,600 jobs among them during the period, led by a loss of 6,400 in Akron and 4,400 in Youngstown. Dayton posted a gain of 3,400, while most other metro areas had small gains or losses.

Cincinnati’s metro area, which extends into northern Kentucky and southeastern Indiana, posted the biggest increase: 24,000 jobs, a growth rate of a solid 2.1%.

Columbus added 13,800 jobs and Cleveland 12,400 — growth rates of about 1.2%.

The three metros have led job creation over the past decade, with a greater focus on service-oriented jobs.

In contrast, many of the state’s smaller metro areas have struggled with job creation and population growth, particularly the areas tied to manufacturing, said economist Bill Lafayette, owner of economic-consulting firm Regionomics.

“I would argue that the weak population growth is a function of weak employment growth. It’s a really tough nut to crack,” he said.

Often, the smaller metro areas rely on a handful of employers, he said.

“You’ve got all these industries whose main focus is in the local area. If the local area population isn’t growing, neither can those industries. It’s kind of a double whammy,” he said.

Cincinnati and Columbus had the lowest unemployment rates among the metro areas last month at 3.2%, the state data shows.

Central Ohio’s jobless rate in November was 3.3%. The area’s 3.2% rate last month was the second-lowest of 2019, trailing only the 2.7% rate posted in April. That rate was a post-recession low.

The local-unemployment data isn’t seasonally adjusted so it can produce rates that vary widely during the year. Lafayette’s seasonal adjustments show that central Ohio had an unemployment rate of 3.3% last month, down from 3.6% in November.

Delaware County posted a 2.8% unemployment rate in December, the lowest in the metro area, according to Job and Family Services data released Tuesday. Union County’s rate was 2.9%.