While new jobs numbers released for the United States show an increase of 164,000 jobs added nationally in July – continuing a record-breaking 106 consecutive month trend – Ohio’s rate of job growth at 1,500 for June sits behind 21 other states by comparison.
Although Ohio is 22nd in jobs gained over the last year, June 2018 to June 2019, the Buckeye State is the seventh most populated state. Two of Ohio’s border states are performing better – Indiana and Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania is larger with roughly one million more people but gained more than 40,600 jobs compared to Ohio’s 28,800. And Indiana, little more than half Ohio’s size, increased their job base by 31,700.
Buckeye Institute economist Andrew J. Kidd told The Ohio Star: “From last month, Ohio had little job growth and total employment is below the level it started the year. The unemployment rate is at its lowest since the early 2000s and labor force participation is ticking up, but the state lags behind national indicators.”
In Kidd’s July 19th blog Job Creation Continues Its Summer Vacation in Ohio, he stated, “Job creation is continuing its summer vacation in Ohio with the June jobs report, which saw Ohio add only 400 new private-sector jobs. This followed a downward revision of May’s jobs numbers, which saw a loss of 7,100 private-sector jobs.”
Also, the Buckeye Institute sees massive spending increases in the budget as part of the problem with Ohio’s lagging economic performance. Furthermore, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) revealed additional issues in their 12th edition of Rich States Poor States.
Ohio has struggled to climb out of the middle of the pack of states economically and the Economic Outlook Rank has been trending downward since 2015. Key problem areas, according to ALEC, include the personal income tax, property tax burden, sales tax burden, a higher minimum wage of $8.6 than the federal floor of $7.6 and the fact that Ohio has been unable to pass a Right to Work law.
Matt Mayer from Opportunity Ohio agreed with the ALEC analysis. “Ohio continues to be a laggard among states due to John Kasich’s bad policies. If Ohio wants to be a leader, it has to implement right to work.”
The blog from Andrew Kidd ended with a warning to lawmakers. “This worrying jobs report, coupled with an unsustainable $143 billion budget that did not rein in government spending, should be concerning to policymakers. A government that does not control spending will stunt private-sector job growth and hurt Ohioans and their families.”
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Beth Lear is a reporter at The Ohio Star. Follow Beth on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
