COLUMBUS – The unemployment rate in Ohio dropped for the seventh straight month amid steady hiring in the face of economic uncertainty caused by higher prices.
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Ohio’s jobless rate fell 0.1% in April to 4.0%, lower than it was the month before the COVID-19 pandemic caused a massive economic shutdown.
April’s unemployment rate fell from 4.1% in March as employers added 9,500 jobs, the sixth straight month of job growth, according to data released Friday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
Employment has increased 117,400 in the past year and Ohio has restored 83.5% of jobs lost to COVID-19 but Michael Shields, researcher for the progressive-leaning Policy Matters Ohio, says the state still needs 139,900 jobs to recover the pre-COVID employment level of February 2020.
“New jobs added last month keep us on track for a full jobs recovery by the end of the year, thanks to the unprecedented scale of federal stimulus that drove rapid early recovery,” Shields said.
Hiring was broad-based, with job gains in manufacturing, construction, leisure, hospitality, trade, transportation, utilities, professional and business services, and local government.
The April unemployment rate for Ohio has from 5.6% in April 2021.
The U.S. unemployment rate for April was 3.6%.