Ohio lost 3,100 jobs in September

The pace of job creation in Ohio continued to slow last month as the state’s economy shed 3,100 jobs while the unemployment rate edged up to 4.8 percent from 4.7 percent in August, the state jobs department reported Friday.

September was the second straight month of job losses for the state, dropping total employment from a revised 5,501,000 in August to 5,497,900 in September, according to figures from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

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The slowdown in hiring was reflected in labor force statistics that showed 14,000 Ohioans either retired, went back to school or simply gave up their job searchers last month, on top of 24,000 who dropped out of the labor force in August.

“Two months of bad news isn’t necessarily the start of a new trend, and the monthly number should be read with caution as it is preliminary, but the job report does suggest Ohio’s economy is challenged,” said Hannah Halbert, a labor market researcher with Policy Matters Ohio, a left-leaning think-tank in Columbus.

Despite the slowdown in hiring, the jobs market remains a bright spot in a slow-growth environment that has characterized the economy since the recovery from the Great Recession began in 2009.

Over the past 12 months, nonfarm payrolls in Ohio have grown by 73,400, or at a 1.4 percent annual rate. By comparison, the U.S. economy grew at an inflation-adjusted rate of 1 percent in the first half of 2016 — the slowest six-month growth rate since 2012, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

And while Ohio’s jobless rate is now 0.2 percentage points higher than it was in September last year, it’s still lower than the national rate of 5 percent — up from 4.9 percent in August, but down from 5.1 percent in September 2015, federal jobs data shows.

Most of the weakness in the Ohio jobs report for September was in goods-producing industries, such as construction and manufacturing, which lost a combined 3,800 jobs last month, coupled with losses in leisure and hospitality, down 2,600 positions, and educational and health services, which lost 1,000 jobs.

While some industries have dialed back on hiring, another positive note in the jobs report was that unlike previous months most job growth in September was in the private sector, led by gains in the high-wage financial activities sector, professional and business services and information technology, which added a combined 7,400 jobs.

Government employment, which had led job gains in Ohio over the past two months, fell by 2,800 in September.

“A strong private sector ensures more opportunities for workers and adequate funds for needed government services,” Joe Nichols, an analyst at The Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions, previously has said.

Nationwide, unemployment rates in September were lower in seven states, higher in one, and stable in 42 states, plus the District of Columbia, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which found six states had jobless rate decreases, four had increases, while 40 states and the District of Columbia had no significant change.

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