COLUMBUS – Ohio’s unemployment rate remained stuck at 5.0 percent in January, where it has been for nine of the last 13 months, indicating job growth that is virtually imperceptible to the naked eye.
The jobless rate was unchanged from the revised rate in December and remains exactly where it stood one year ago, according to data released Friday morning by the Ohio Department of job and Family Services.
The change reflects sluggish growth nationally, as the U.S. unemployment rate for January was 4.8 percent, 0.1 percentage points higher than in December and 0.1 percentage points lower than in January 2016.
Employers shed 2,100 jobs over the month in Ohio though the number of Ohioans who reported they were working increased by 31,100 from January 2016 to last month.
The number of unemployed workers has increased by 4,000 in the past 12 months as 23,000 people dropped out of the work force, retiring, returning to school or simply ending their search for jobs.
The construction and manufacturing sectors powered the gains of 9,900 jobs in goods-producing industries, which compensated for the nearly 12,000 jobs lost in the service sector, led by declines in educational and health services and leisure and hospitality.
Over the past year, manufacturing and construction have added 6,900 jobs, led by gains in nondurable goods production, while service-sector employers added 28,300 jobs with sizeable gains in educational and health services, financial activities, and trade, transportation and utilities.
Government employment grew by 3,300 jobs between January 2016 and last month but remained virtually unchanged since December.