COLUMBUS, Ohio — Newly released March 2021 statistics from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the Ohio unemployment rate was its lowest in a year, but that does not mean everyone has returned to the workforce.
According to the federal government, Ohio’s unemployment rate was at 4.7% in March matching the state’s unemployment rate from February 2020. While there are fewer people on unemployment now than before the pandemic, there are also fewer workers.
In February 2020, an estimated 5.9 million Ohioans were part of the state’s workforce. Among those in the workforce, 5.62 million Ohioans were employed. In March 2021, the workforce dipped to 5.75 million, with 5.48 million Ohioans holding jobs. The result of these figures is that the percentage of Ohioans in the workforce dropped from 63.7% in February 2020 to 62.1% in March 2021.
Although the number of Ohioans who are unemployed has dropped continually since last April when the unemployment rate jumped to 16.1% during the onset of the pandemic, participation in the workforce has continually dropped, according to federal figures.
Only one industry, the financial services sector, has seen its workforce grow since the start of the pandemic. The leisure and hospitality industry has seen the largest drop in workforce by shrinking 12.4% since March 2020.
Nationally, the unemployment rate for March 2021 was 6%.
