Saturday, April 18, 2015
Staff report
YOUNGSTOWN
March was a disappointing month for Ohio’s economy, economists said.
The state’s unemployment rate was 5.1 percent in March, unchanged from February, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported Friday.
“We have a quite disappointing Ohio employment report,” Cleveland-based economist George Zeller said in a statement.
Ohio gained 1,500 jobs in nonfarm wage and salary employment from a revised 5,385,000 in February to 5,386,500 in March. The Ohio job figure for February was revised downward by 2,100 jobs, Zeller said.
Also, Ohio’s not seasonally adjusted job growth rate was 1.45 percent in March 2015 compared with the national rate at 2.27 percent, he said.
“Thus, Ohio’s job growth rate was below the USA national average once again in March 2015,” he said.
The March unemployment rate for Ohio was down from 6 percent in March 2014.
“It was a really uninspiring report,” PNC economist Mekael Teshome said.
Teshome highlighted the losses in construction, and public-sector jobs.
“The decline in those is a little disappointing,” he said.
Construction was down by 4,500 jobs in March from the month before, and 1,400 from March 2014. Those losses are significant because they affect many points in the economy, Teshome said.
Although government employment increased 2,000 jobs in March from February, 1,200 jobs were lost from March 2014. Public-sector jobs are usually high paying, making the drop another hit to the economy, Teshome said.
The U.S. unemployment rate for March was 5.5 percent, unchanged from February, but down from 6.6 percent in March 2014.