COLUMBUS – The unemployment rate in central Ohio in December remained at 3.9 percent for the second month in a row, according to data released by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Tuesday morning.
It was also the second month in a row in which the number of residents reporting that they were working declined, as did the workforce. The number of residents in the 10-county region who were actively looking for work increased to 42,000, the highest number since July.
The number of working central Ohioans has declined from 1.007 million in October, the highest number of the year, to 1.0 million in December while the labor force fell from 1.045 million in October to 1.041 million last month.
Ohio’s jobless rate in December was 4.7 percent. The national rate was 5 percent.
Although some analysts think the growth of small businesses is too slow and Ohio has not added jobs as quickly as the nation as a whole in the wake of the recession, central Ohio continues to be the engine that bdrives Ohio’s economy, with the Columbus area boasting the lowest unemployment rate of any of the state’s major metropolitan areas.
Cincinnati, at 4.3 percent, is next lowest while Toledo’s 4.8 percent is the highest.