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

“In March, Ohio added 9,500 private-sector jobs for a total of 4,819,700 jobs, finally recovering all the jobs lost during the pandemic. And the unemployment rate of 3.8 percent is well below the pre-pandemic rate of 4.6 percent. These gains, and an uptick in the labor force participation rate, indicate that Ohioans looking for work are finding jobs and mirror trends we have seen in the national job market. Despite these positive signs, many Ohioans remain out of the job market, and the labor force participation rate remains well below the 63.5 percent participation rate of February 2020.

“It has taken three long years for the number of employed Ohioans to surpass the pre-pandemic level, but Ohio still faces challenges. To ensure Ohio maintains this level of job growth, policymakers must strengthen Ohio’s education system and use Ohio’s budget surplus to reduce taxes on Ohio’s families and businesses. With the pandemic job losses behind us, Ohio needs to use this budget cycle to create new opportunities to keep Ohioans working and helping businesses flourish.”

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