COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio’s unemployment rate remain unchanged last month from December’s revised rate at 5.1 percent in January, but is still at a 13-year low, according to data released by the state Friday morning.
December’s rate was initially was reported to be 4.8 percent, its lowest rate since 2001 and the fourth decrease in five months. That was later revised to 5.1 percent based on more detailed data.
According to a report in the Columbus Dispatch, Ohio has now regained 392,200 of the 406,800 jobs lost between the time the recession began and February 2010, considered the point when the job recovery began.
The January rate also represents a 21.5 percent improvement over January 2014, thanks to nearly 98,000 jobs added in the previous 12 months, according to a monthly report from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
Although the jobless rate has declined in 17 of the last 22 months and is the lowest since October 2001, Ohio’s employment growth has been slower than what some say it would be if the state were enjoying robust recovery.
Some analysts say the slow decline in the unemployment rate is the result of more people reentering the work force because they are more optimistic about getting a job. Critics counter that the 63 percent work force participation rate shows a pessimistic mood among potential workers.
The number of people counted as actively seeking work has decreased by 78,000 in the past 12 months
The U.S. unemployment rate for January was 5.7 percent, up from 5.6 percent in December, and down from 6.6 percent in January 2014.
Ohio employers added 25,100 workers in January, the state reported, and 97,800 since January 2014, powered by an increase of 87,600 in the service sector. That growth was led by the leisure and hospitality industries; trade, transportation and utilities, and professional, business, education and health services.
The manufacturing sector added 12,500 jobs, there were upticks in construction, mining and logging employment, while the government sector shed 7,000 jobs over the course of the year.
The 12,300 jobs added in the trade, transportation, and utilities sector made up a significant share of the 25,100 jobs added last month, the department reported.