COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio’s unemployment rate fell in December, the second straight monthly decline after a stretch five consecutive months during which the rate either increased or was unchanged from the month before.
According to data released Friday morning by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, the unemployment rate in December was 7.2 percent, down from 7.4 percent in November.
But that rate was 0.5 percent higher than in December of 2012, when the jobless rate dropped to a post-recession low of 6.7. That looks like a discouraging development on the surface, but department spokesman Ben Johnson says it is the result of a “positive development”: A stabilizing and more optimistic work force.
“While the rate is higher, that’s not entirely bad news, because it reflects a growing labor force,” he said.
The labor force – the number of people working and looking for work – increased by 9,000 during 2013, the first annual increase since the end of the recession, Johnson said. A declining labor force can also translate into a declining unemployment rate, he said.
The December rate in Ohio was also 0.5 percent ahead of the national rate of 6.7 percent in December, down from 7.9 percent in December 2012.
Johnsons says, while job growth is slow, the state still added 25,600 jobs during the year, 5,000 of them in December. There were 11,000 fewer unemployed Ohioans in December than in November while the number has increased by 31,000 in the past 12 months.
The construction and manufacturing sectors added 5,400 jobs last month, while educational and health services shed 3,700 jobs and 1,500 were lost in trade, transportation, and utilities.
During the year, the service sector added nearly 30,000, powered by gains in educational and health services (11,500), professional and business services (10,800); trade, transportation, and utilities (7,600) and leisure and hospitality (5,700). The goods-producing sector added 5,200 jobs.
Declines were seen in information and financial activities. Government lost 9,500 jobs over the year, led by losses in local government.
The state had lost jobs in construction in November but gained positions in manufacturing, educational and health services, trade, transportation, utilities and government.
Officials said the number of unemployed workers in Ohio was 416,000 in December, down from 427,000 in November.