JobWatch

Job Watch

September 2008

Ohio's job market weakens

Ohio’s job market continues to lose steam, as employment slackens and unemployment claims grow. In each of the last 10 weeks, initial claims for unemployment compensation in the state have risen by more than 30 percent from the same week a year earlier. According to seasonally adjusted payroll numbers for nonfarm wage and salary jobs released Sept. 19 by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS), Ohio employment has fallen by more than 19,000 jobs in the past year.

Ohio and Michigan are the only two states in the country that do not have as many jobs as they did when the last recession officially ended more than six years ago. Since then, Ohio has lost 79,000 jobs, or 1.4 percent of its total.

The chart above and the following statistics, based on the latest seasonally adjusted ODJFS payroll numbers, highlight recent changes in the Ohio job market. They include revisions in previous figures for 2007 and before made annually by the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

	8/2008	1/2001	Job Change since 1/2001	Percent Change since 1/2001	6/05 (Ohio tax reform approved)	Job Change since 6/05	Percent Change since 6/05
Total Jobs	5,406.8	5,606.1	-199.3	-3.6%	5,421.8	-15.0	-0.3%
Manufac-turing Jobs	755.7	998.6	-242.9	-24.3%	812.0	-56.3	-6.9%

Source: Employer Survey, Ohio Department of Job & Family Services and U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, number of jobs in thousands.

More than three years after an overhaul of state taxes was signed into law with the intent of creating jobs, employment in Ohio has fallen by 15,000 jobs, or 0.3 percent. During the same period, the nation added almost 3.9 million jobs, for a growth rate of 2.9 percent. U.S. manufacturing employment has fallen since June 2005 by 786,000 jobs. However, Ohio has lost 56,300 manufacturing jobs in the same period, a relative loss greater than that experienced by the nation as a whole.

Unemployment has been growing in Ohio. The ODJFS reported from a separate survey of households that the Ohio unemployment rate in August rose to 7.4 percent, up from 7.2 percent in July.

JobWatch is an ongoing project of the Economic Policy Institute (http://www.epinet.org) and Policy Matters Ohio, (http://www.policymattersohio.org), both nonprofit policy research institutes. Policy Matters is grateful to the Joyce, Gund, Cleveland, New World, Public Welfare and Sisters of Charity Foundations and to Greater Cleveland Community Shares for financial support.

Print Version - September 2008 Press Release in PDF format

The Joyce Foundation supports Policy Matters Ohio research on workers in Ohio. The Sisters of Charity Foundation provides additional funding for presentations and popular education on these issues. We are also grateful to the Gund and Cleveland Foundations for other support.

Press Releases

JobWatch News Coverage

June 2008 Press Release

Apr 2008 Press Release

Jan 2008 Press Release

Dec 2007 Press Release

Nov 2007 Press Release

Oct 2007 Press Release

Aug 2007 Press Release

July 2007 Press Release

June 2007 Press Release

May 2007 Press Release