Summit County sees job growth again in April, still hasn't fully recovered from pandemic

Jim Mackinnon, Akron Beacon Journal
·2 min read
Summit County continued to show job gains in April from the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic lows.
Summit County continued to show job gains in April from the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic lows.

Summit County continues to show job growth from the lows of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

But the county still is not back to 2019 pre-pandemic levels, based on the latest data released Tuesday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Summit County had a 3.6% unemployment rate in April, down from 4.2% in March and 5.9% a year ago.

Akron's jobless rate last month was 4.3%, down from 4.8% in March and 7.6% in April 2021.

National unemployment: U.S. economy adds 428,000 jobs in April even as COVID cases edge higher; unemployment is unchanged at 3.6%

The Cuyahoga Falls unemployment rate in April was 3.2%, down from 3.9% in March and 5.4% a year ago.

There were 253,600 people counted as working in Summit County last month, up from 249,200 in April 2021 and up significantly from a decades low of 219,100 in April 2020, when the unemployment rate was 14.7%.

Jobs figures still fall short

Still, the county had 262,200 people at work in April 2019, or 8,600 more than last month. And these latest figures fall far short of jobs numbers that peaked at the start of the Great Recession.

For the month of April going back to 2000, jobs peaked at 281,700 in 2007, or 28,100 more than last month. The unemployment rate in April 2007 was 5%. There were more people working in April 2000 at 269,100, when the unemployment rate was 4.1%, than there were last month.

In Ohio, unemployment rates in April fell in all 88 counties. The low was 1.9% in Holmes County, with the high in Monroe County at 6%.

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Rates were not adjusted to take into account seasonal factors.

Ohio had a comparable jobless rate of 3.7% in April. The U.S. unemployment rate in April was 3.3%.

Northeast Ohio unemployment rates

Here are the jobless rates elsewhere in Northeast Ohio for April, March and April 2021.

• Cuyahoga County: 5.9%, 6.8%, 6.8%

• Cleveland: 7.5%, 8.2%, 9%

• Medina County: 4.2%, 5.4%, 4.1%

• Portage County: 3.2%, 3.9%, 4.9%

• Stark County: 3.5%, 4.1%, 5.8%

• Canton: 4.2%, 4.4%, 7.6%

• Wayne County: 2.5%, 3.1%, 3.5%

Beacon Journal reporter Jim Mackinnon can be reached at 330-996-3544 or jmackinnon@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him @JimMackinnonABJ on Twitter or www.facebook.com/JimMackinnonABJ.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Summit County adds jobs in April, still not back fully from pandemic