Ohio Adds More Than 27,000 Nonfarm Jobs in 2019

Ohio's unemployment rate was 4.2% in December 2019, unchanged from November. Ohio’s nonagricultural wage and salary employment increased 9,800 over the month, from a revised 5,600,800 in November to 5,610,600 in December 2019.

The number of workers unemployed in Ohio in December was 243,000, down 4,000 from 247,000 in November. The number of unemployed has decreased by 24,000 in the past 12 months from 267,000. The December unemployment rate for Ohio decreased from 4.6% in December 2018.

The U.S. unemployment rate for December was 3.5%, unchanged from November and down from 3.9% in December 2018.

Total Nonagricultural Wage and Salary Employment (Seasonally Adjusted)

Ohio’s nonagricultural wage and salary employment increased 9,800 over the month, from a revised 5,600,800 in November to 5,610,600 in December, according to the latest business establishment survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor (Bureau of Labor Statistics) in cooperation with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS).

Goods-producing industries, at 929,600, added 4,400 jobs from November as gains in construction (+3,400) and manufacturing (+1,100) exceeded losses in mining and logging (-100). The private service-providing sector, at 3,900,100, added 6,000 jobs. Employment gains in educational and health services (+3,400), financial activities (+1,700), leisure and hospitality (+900), trade, transportation, and utilities (+700), and professional and business services (+200) surpassed losses in other services (-900). The information sector did not change over the month. Government employment, at 780,900, decreased 600 as losses in federal (-400) and state (-300) government outpaced gains in local government (+100).

From December 2018 to December 2019, nonagricultural wage and salary employment grew 27,300. Employment in goods-producing industries decreased 10,800. Employment in manufacturing decreased 1,700, as losses in durable goods (-2,600) exceeded gains in nondurable goods (+900). Construction lost 9,000 jobs, and mining and logging lost 100 jobs. Private service-providing industries added 35,400 jobs over the year. Employment gains in leisure and hospitality (+17,000), educational and health services (+11,400), professional and business services (+5,500), financial activities (+2,900), information (+600), and other services (+500) surpassed losses in trade, transportation, and utilities (-2,500). Government employment increased 2,700 as gains in local (+2,400) and state (+400) government exceeded losses in federal government (-100).

EDITOR’S NOTE: All data cited are produced in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Labor. Data sources include the Current Population Survey (U.S. data), Current Employment Statistics Program (nonagricultural wage and salary employment data), and Local Area Unemployment Statistics Program (Ohio unemployment rates). More complete listings of the data appear in the monthly Ohio Labor Market Review. Unemployment rates for all Ohio counties, as well as cities with populations of 50,000 or more, are presented in the monthly ODJFS Civilian Labor Force Estimates publication. Updated statewide historical data may be obtained through the OhioLMI app, which is available for free on mobile devices through the App Store or Google Play. Ohioans can access tens of thousands of job openings, for positions ranging from file clerks to CEOs, at http://ohiomeansjobs.com.

News release dates
A calendar of 2020 release dates is available online at http://OhioLMI.com/laus/releases.htm. County, city, and metropolitan area unemployment rates for December 2019 will be posted online at http://OhioLMI.com/laus/current.htm on Tuesday, January 28. January 2020 unemployment rates and nonagricultural wage and salary data for Ohio will be released by ODJFS on Friday, March 6, 2020. In accordance with usual practice, the January 2020 release will incorporate revisions to reflect the annual “benchmark” process. This information and the monthly statistical summaries it is based on are also available at https://jfs.ohio.gov/ocomm.

Choose this link to view the table on the Ohio and U.S. Employment Situation.

Choose this link to view the table on the Nonagricultural Wage and Salary Employment Estimates for Ohio.