· August 21, 2013

Ohio continues to lag nation in job growth

Ohio’s stagnant job growth continued through July.  According to data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Ohio ranks 46^th in the nation in year-to-year job growth when comparing July, 2012 to July, 2013. Compared to other states, Ohio’s continues to rank in the bottom five of all states for yearly job growth. On a year-to-year basis, Ohio’s job growth rate was a minuscule .73 percent in July. Only four states –Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Alaska – added jobs at a slower rate during the same time period. The state did add 5,300 jobs in the month of July. But Policy Matters Ohio pointed out that the pace of job growth is far below where it needs to be:

“July’s growth is a positive change, but far from where the state needs to be,” said Hannah Halbert, workforce researcher for Policy Matters Ohio. “At this point last year, Ohio’s 12-month growth rate was 1.4 percent, double what it is today.

For over a year now, job growth has pretty much been non-existent in Ohio. July was the first month of the new two-year operating budget that continues failed job growth policies. At some point, lawmakers will need to accept the fact that policy changes that give large tax cuts to the wealthy and cut funding to schools and local governments are not working.