New data shows how close Ohio is to recovering jobs lost during the pandemic

Ohio is one of 19 states that still hasn't recovered all of the jobs that were lost three years ago when the coronavirus wreaked havoc on the economy.

But revised jobs data coupled with a good jobs report for January show that Ohio's economy is close to catching up.

Ohio needs 41,600 jobs to get back to where it was in February 2020, new Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services data show. The state lost 888,200 jobs in March and April 2020 in the early days of the crisis..

The revisions show the state added a total of 244,700 jobs in in 2021 and '22, an increase of 47,100 jobs over original reports. Revisions show big additions in the fall of '21 while the gains for all of '22 were smaller than initially reported.

Ohio economy creates most jobs in January since July

Meanwhile, the state's economy added 14,800 jobs during January, the best gains since last July, and construction has started on several manufacturing projects expected to adding thousands of more jobs in coming years, including Intel's $20 billion investment in Licking County and Honda's joint venture with LG Energy Solution for a electric vehicle battery plant in Fayette County that will have a minimum investment of $3.5 billion.

Job growth in central Ohio, meanwhile, has slowed, with the region adding 13,900 jobs over the past year, well below the growth rate of 2021. The region already has made up the losses it suffered during the pandemic.

Nationwide, revisions show 31 states have recovered their pandemic job losses as of January, according to Wells Fargo & Co. Oklahoma, New Hampshire, Mississippi, Kansas, Delaware and Iowa have recently joined that club of states to the list of fully recovered states as of December, while Iowa is newly recovered as of January.

Employers continue to say it's difficult finding workers

Even though the state has yet to fully recover all the jobs that were lost during the pandemic's early days, employers continue to struggle to find workers, said Ben Ayers, senior economist at Nationwide. If Ohio had the same number of people in the labor force it had before the pandemic, the state likely would be at record employment, he said.

"Labor conditions within Ohio remain tight with lack of labor supply a lingering concern for Ohio businesses," he said in a research note last week.

Ohio's unemployment rate averaged 4% in 2022 and was 4.1% in January, below the 4.4% rate before the pandemic hit and in the range of an all-time low for the state.

The last time the rate was that low or lower was during a three-month period in 2019 and then again in 2000-2001 when the rate bottomed at 3.8% and was at or below 4% for eight months.

The most recent report from OhioMeansJobs, the state's jobs website, shows 287,539 openings, more than the number of workers listed unofficially as unemployed, even as worries grow that the recession is coming.

A big reason why the unemployment rate is so low is people have been slow to return to the labor force. Ohio has about 200,000 fewer workers than it did three years ago.

"Ohio’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.0 percent in January while the labor force has stagnated over the past year," Ayers said. "At this point, there is unlikely to be a surge in new workers within the state so it will take a reduction in demand by firms to create better balance in Ohio’s labor market."

The jobs shortfall that's left from the state is concentrated in two areas where employers have had an especially difficult time finding workers: health care and the sector that covers restaurants, hotels and other leisure and hospitality activities, Ayers said.

mawilliams@dispatch.com

@BizMarkWilliams

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio lost nearly 900,000 jobs during the pandemic, almost all are back