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Ohio Job Loss Second Highest in U.S. During June
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Ohio’s unemployment rate rose a fifth of a percentage point to 7.2% in June, and the 12,500 decrease in jobs -- the second highest in the nation -- provided early fodder for a Democrat looking to unseat Gov. John Kasich in next year’s election.
While up from May’s 7.0% unemployment rate, the June statistic was down a tenth of a point from 7.3% a year earlier, the Ohio Department of Job and Family services reported. Goods-producing industries lost 5,100 jobs from May to June, including a 3,100-job decline in manufacturing, and1,900 fewer construction jobs.
Private service-providing industries lost 3,700 positions, including a 3,100-job decrease in educational and health services. While leisure and hospitality saw a 1,400 gain in Ohio, government jobs decreased by 3,700 as a 7,100-job decline in local government was partially offset by a 3,400-job increase in state government.
Ohio is among 28 states where unemployment rates increased over the month, while 11 states and the District of Columbia saw decreases and rates were unchanged in the remaining 11 states, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Ohio’s 12,500-job increase in unemployment was only exceeded by the 16,500 jobs lost in Tennessee. California had the largest increase in employment, 30,200 jobs, followed by Ohio’s neighbor, Pennsylvania, with a gain of 19,100.
Over the year, 37 states and the District of Columbia experienced decreases in unemployment, seven had increases and six had no change.
Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Kasich in next year’s gubernatorial election, seized on the jobs reports, along with a study by Arizona State University that ranked Ohio 43rd in job creation between May 2012 and May 2013.
“So where is the ‘Ohio Miracle’ that Gov. Kasich was talking about just a few days ago? Over and over, he claims his policies are successful, but this report shows they aren’t,” FitzGerald said in an email. “Ohio lost more jobs than almost every other state in the country, and fell far below the national average in job creation in the last year.
“This governor is patting himself on the back, while our middle class is struggling. Governor Kasich is failing the middle class and Ohio families deserve better. We can do better.”
A progressive pressure group, Policy Matters Ohio, described the state jobs report as “discouraging,” also in an email distributed late this morning. “This follows a month when Ohio led the country in job growth,” highlighting “how arbitrary month-to-month comparison can be, and how important it is to focus on longer-term trends,” according Hannah Halbert, policy liaison.
Of greater concern, according to Policy Matters, is that the data shoes Ohio only added 16,000 jobs over the past 12 months, from June 2012 to last month; in the prior 12-month period, June 2011-June 2012, Ohio added more than 113,500 jobs. “The data has shown a volatile, up-and-down pattern for most of the year, but overall the recovery remains weak,” Halbert said.
“Ohio needs 216,700 jobs just to make up for losses in the last recession. June marked four years of official recovery, and in those four years Ohio has only added 158,300 jobs,” she continued. “The state policy of austerity is not generating the promised job growth. We need investment in our communities to get back on track,”
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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