Columbus, OH – Rea S. Hederman Jr., executive director of the Economic Research Center at The Buckeye Institute and vice president of policy, commented on newly released employment data from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. 

“In July, Ohio’s job market continued to strengthen as businesses created new jobs and more people re-entered the labor force looking for work. With more Ohioans looking for work, the state unsurprisingly saw a slight uptick in its unemployment rate, which increased .2 percentage points to 5.4 percent. Although the state’s labor force participation rate continues to lag the national average of 61.7 percent, it is a positive sign that Ohio’s has risen to 60.5 percent up from 60.2 percent.

“Worth noting is that nearly all areas of the economy added jobs in July with an increase of 21,300 private-sector jobs—the highest we have seen since January 2021. The hotel and restaurant industry had strong gains adding 8,000 jobs but is still a long way from full recovery. Manufacturing added 2,100 jobs and construction added 700 as some supply chain problems from the spring eased. Overall, Ohio’s private sector has added 50,000 jobs this year—more than 40,000 of those being added in the past two months alone. Simply put, more Ohioans are working, and the number of new jobs is climbing. Despite this positive report, Ohio needs to add nearly 250,000 private-sector jobs to get back to its pre-pandemic levels, and unless job creation accelerates in the second half 2021, Ohio is still a long way from seeing a full recovery.

“July’s jobs report is the first one that shows the impact of Governor DeWine’s wise decision to end Ohio’s participation in the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation Program, which a study from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco found led to more unemployment. It is clear the DeWine Administration made the correct decision and efforts to force Ohio to reverse this decision—one that even the Biden Administration believes states have the authority to make—are wasting taxpayer resources and would keep workers out of the job market.”

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