OHIO, NORTHEAST OHIO JOBS STILL FLATLINING
It's Monday morning... let's pop a few downers.
From Policy Matters' monthly Job Watch:
Ohio added just 3,600 jobs during 2005, a gain that amounts to less than a tenth of one percent in a job market that includes more than 5 million Ohioans. Manufacturing employment, the source of most of the state’s job losses during the decade, failed to gain traction last year. Growth in some service sectors, such as professional and business services, was partly offset by decline in others, such as trade, transportation and utilities. At this point after the end of the early 1990s recession started, 395,100 jobs had been created in Ohio, an increase of 8.2 percent. By comparison, since the official end of the recession in November 2001, the state has lost 68,200 jobs, or 1.2 percent of its total.Next, from CSU's Center for Economic Development comes a new "Economic Brief" on jobs and wages in the fourteen-county region (Cleveland-Lorain-Akron-Canton-Youngstown) which features this graph:
Note that the graph compares employment figures only for the first quarter of each year. As it happens, the little 2005 uptick in the NEO line (first quarter 2005 compared to first quarter 2004) may not be there when 2006 is included.
Finally, here's my own chart (based on figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics website) showing two years' worth of 12-month percentage changes in employment for the U.S., the state, and the Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor SMSA:
Note that break-even (0% job growth) is the fourth line from the bottom. The twelve-month job growth figures for the Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor area have been negative since May.
Have a great day.