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Cincinnati
Enquirer...
Ohio
beats
nation in job gains
Written
by
Paul E. Kostyu
Mar. 30,
2012
COLUMBUS —
Ohio led the nation in adding 28,300 jobs in February, beating out
Texas and
New York, according to figures released Friday by the federal Bureau of
Labor
Statistics.
Service-providing
industries, which include trade, transportation and utilities, as well
as
government jobs, led Ohio’s gain with 21,300 jobs, according to data
released
last week by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
Construction and
manufacturing also were among the industries that saw gains last month.
“Wow,” said
George Vredeveld, an economics professor at the University of
Cincinnati, when
told of Friday’s federal report.
Vredeveld
said his first instinct is that Ohio’s manufacturing base “has had a
pretty
good heartbeat for the past nine to 10 months.” And if the numbers
indicate a
revival of manufacturing, “then that’s good because Ohio is obviously
heavy in
manufacturing.”
Manufacturing
has gained 18,600 jobs since February 2011. Ohio’s unemployment rate
was 7.6
percent in February, down from 7.7 percent in January.
“That’s
very good news,” Rob Nichols, spokesman for Gov. John R. Kasich, said
Friday.
“But we have so much work to be done. We were in a very deep hole.”
Nichols
said improved employment should strengthen Kasich’s hand in dealing
with the
Ohio Legislature. Lawmakers have been hesitant to go along with the
governor’s
plan to lower state income taxes while increasing taxes on energy
companies
tapping oil and natural gas reserves in shale deposits in the eastern
half of
the state.
“Over the
previous decade, Ohio lost 600,000 jobs and in the last 14 months we’ve
added
83,000,” Nichols said. “We have to reduce the tax burden on Ohioans.”
Ohio has
led job growth in the Midwest and has been in the top five states
nationally
for a couple months, something Kasich points out on a regular basis
But
Vredeveld cautioned that “one or two months do not a trend make, so
let’s be
careful. We can be hopeful.”
Nichols
said he doesn’t mind giving some credit to the national economic
policies of
President Barack Obama for Ohio’s job growth.
“We don’t
care who gets the credit,” he said. “This is not about politics. It’s
about
getting Ohio back on track.”
Vredeveld
said 75 to 85 percent of changes in state and local economies are
influenced by
national economic policy, but he said “what we’re doing in Ohio” has an
impact.
“I wouldn’t
discount the impact of state policy on job growth,” he said.
The Labor Department
said unemployment declined in 29 states and rose in eight. Unemployment
was
unchanged in 13 states and Washington, D.C. Job growth was broader in
January
when unemployment rates declined in 45 states.
Ohio’s job
numbers come on the heels of Moody’s recent upgrade of the state’s
credit
rating from “negative watch” to “stable.”
Nichols
said it was the first time since 2007 that Ohio has had a stable credit
rating
from all three major rating agencies – Moody’s, Standard &
Poor’s and
Fitch.
Nationwide,
employers added 227,000 net non-farm jobs in February, just under the
average
of 245,000 jobs per month since December.
That has
helped lower the national unemployment rate to 8.3 percent, the lowest
in three
years. The economy is expanding modestly, but economists expect the
stronger
job market will help lift growth later this year. The data released
Friday may
suggest that is already happening.
The
Associated Press contributed.
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