Ohio October unemployment rate hits a pandemic low
Shows large rise in household employment
Ohio’s unemployment rate tumbled to a pandemic low in October as the state reported its largest monthly increase in household employment on record.
The state’s unemployment rate fell to 5.6% in October, down from 8.3% in September and 17.3% in April, the first full month of coronavirus-related shutdowns, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services said Friday.
The rate was 4.1% in February, before the pandemic took hold.
The lower rate was driven by a surge of 293,000 people who said they found work in October – the largest increase going back to 1976, said Ben Ayers, senior economist at Nationwide.
The number of Ohio workers who say they’re unemployed fell by nearly a third last month to 324,000.
Ayers noted that the figures can be volatile, and might be revised in the future.
“Still,” he said, “there were improved signs for workers and businesses in Ohio heading into the fourth quarter as the recovery continues.”
Separately, the state said employers added 30,800 jobs during the month. Ohio has now added back nearly 520,000 jobs out of 900,000 that were lost in March and April.
Ohio’s unemployment report is made up of two surveys: one of employers that determines how many jobs they created or took away in a given month; and one of households that shows how many are working. The latter data makes up the unemployment rate.
The separate reports don’t always move in the same direction, as the October numbers show.
Ohio’s unemployment rate is now below the U.S. rate, which was 6.9% in October.
Other states also showed steep drops in their unemployment rates in October, including a decline of 3.6% in Illinois, 3.5% in Rhode Island, 3.1% in Michigan and 2.4% in Massachusetts.
The economic fallout from the pandemic led to big job losses at first followed by big gains, and the numbers don’t always seem to add up, said economist Bill Lafayette, owner of the central Ohio economic consulting firm Regionomics, who also expects to see Friday’s data revised in subsequent reports.
“When people look at these numbers and don’t regularly follow them ... you tend to accept them as gospel when they’re everything but,” he said.
Likely, the Ohio unemployment rate for October was more like the U.S. rate, he said.
The state’s labor force participation rate – a measurement that looks at the percentage of people 16 or older who have a job or who are looking for work – jumped to 62.7% in October.
It was 60.9% in September, the lowest percentage going back to 1976.
“This is a sign that workers are seeing renewed employment opportunities as the economy recovers from the COVID recession,” Ayers said.
The participation rate bottomed out in late summer as families were forced to make decisions about day care, keeping children at home and remote learning.
“What to do with the kids has a disproportionate impact on the female workforce,” he said.
Ayers added that “the further people are detached from the labor force and not participating, the harder it is to jump back in.”
Manufacturers added 8,100 jobs last month, more than any other sector.
The professional and business services sector added 7,300 jobs and the leisure and hospitality sector added 6,100 jobs.
The trade, transportation and utilities sector added 5,700 jobs and finance created 3,000 jobs.
Government employment fell by 2,800, driven by a loss of 5,500 jobs in the federal government. mawilliams@dispatch.com @Bizmarkwilliams