COLUMBUS – After celebrating its strongest first-quarter since 2012, Ohio’s job growth stalled out again in April, though the unemployment rate dropped to a 17-year low.
The state’s unemployment rate was 4.3 percent in April, down from 4.4 percent in March even though employers shed 1,000 jobs over the month, according to data released Friday morning by the state Department of Job and Family Services. That marked the fourth straight monthly decline and was the lowest unemployment rate for Ohio since July of 2001.
The decline came as the number of unemployed workers fell by 4,000. The number of unemployed Ohioans has decreased by 43,000 in the past 12 months. The April 2017 unemployment rate for Ohio was 5.1 percent.
In the last year, Ohio has picked up 57,000 jobs, a growth rate of 1.0 percent, which lags behind the nation’s 1.5 percent, according to the progressive Policy Matters Ohio. The 44,900 jobs gained during the first three months of 2018 was the strongest first quarter growth in six years, said researcher Hannah Halbert.
Job losses in manufacturing, mining and logging, and in local and state government negated the 2,100 jobs picked up in the economy’s service sector, the state reported.
The U.S. unemployment rate for April was 3.9 percent.