Ohio loses 11,500 jobs in December
Ohio’s economic recovery from the pandemic stalled in December as cases of the coronavirus ratcheted up to record levels.
Ohio lost 11,500 jobs last month, the first time the state has cut jobs since April during the early days of the pandemic, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services said Friday.
The job losses mirror what happened nationally, with the U.S. losing 140,000 jobs in December, led by a loss of 498,000 jobs in the coronavirusbattered leisure and hospitality sector.
That sector also was the big loser in Ohio, dropping 9,200 jobs last month and 125,400 over the past year. That sector makes more than a third of 350,200 jobs that have been cut the past year.
The loss of jobs at restaurants, hotels and travel industries reflect cases of COVID-19 climbing to record levels in December, often topping 10,000 cases per day. Restaurants that were able to offer some outdoor seating likely cut back as the weather turned cold, said Ben Ayers, senior economist at Nationwide.
“There was a slowdown at the end of the year. COVID is the main driver,” he said.
Despite the job loss, the unemployment rate continues to fall, dropping to 5.5% in December from 5.7% in November. The rate peaked at 17.3% in April.
Ohio’s unemployment rate stands well below the U.S. rate of 6.7%. Typically, the Ohio rate is at or above the U.S. rate.
New weekly claims for benefits have been rising in Ohio the past several weeks to their highest level since May. Claims also have remained high nationally.
“They’re telling us that there is a slowdown, a soft patch that we don’t expect to last for long,” Ayers said.
Recently approved federal stimulus will extend unemployment benefits into March. Vaccines will become more widespread over time.
“All of that is going to help bridge us from this Covid-induced soft patch to a pretty strong pace of growth,” he said.
The monthly unemployment report is made up of two surveys, one of households and one of businesses, and they don’t always move in the same direction.
The number of unemployed workers fell by 13,000 to 315,000 during the month.
The 5.5% unemployment rate likely doesn’t tell the true story of what’s happening in the labor market, Ayers said. Workers have dropped out of the labor force since the pandemic began, and that’s help pushed down the unemployment rate.
“You could argue the 5.5% rate is not reflective of the stress the labor market is feeling,” he said.
Outside of the leisure and hospitality sector, the private education and health care sector lost 6,200 jobs last month, and the government sector gave up 5,000 jobs during December.
The trade, transportation and utilities sector added 8,600 jobs last month, the most of any sector. The finance sector added 2,100 jobs. mawlliams@dispatch.com @Bizmarkwilliams