COLUMBUS – Ohio employers added jobs for the 12th consecutive month in October, raising the number of working Ohioans to 5.656 million people, the highest level since the state began keeping regular records in 1990.
The number of Ohioans who were employed in October increased by 7,700 from a revised 5.648 million in September, according to a survey of businesses. The unemployment rate increased from 3.4% to 3.6%, according to data released Friday by the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services.
The last time the state reported a drop in hiring was October 2022.
It is not clear yet what impact the United Auto Workers strike against auto manufacturers in Ohio and other states had on the monthly report.
In August, Ohio recovered all of the jobs lost during the COVD-19 pandemic, according to Policy Matters Ohio economist Michael Shields, who called it the fastest jobs recovery in recent history.
“The COVID recession was the deepest downturn since the Great Depression, and federal lawmakers dispatched unprecedented resources scaled to the size of the crisis. This rapid and continued recovery marks a triumph of wise public policy,” Shields said.
However, he pointed out that the state reported adding 7,700 jobs was based on a survey of employers, which is considered more accurate, while a separate household survey showed 17,000 Ohioans lost or left jobs.
The household survey can pick up trends faster and the different result could signal a slowdown or it could instead be reflecting the impact of striking auto workers returning to work, Shields said.
It is the second straight month when the two surveys have contradicted each other and Shields says it may require another month of data to understand the trend.
The state has added 109,600 jobs in the last 12 months, three-fourths of them in the service sector, ODJFS reported.