Ohio Overview

As home to many auto-production facilities, Ohio tends to rise and fall with the fortunes of the auto industry. As it did in neighboring states, Ohio employment declined sharply when the auto industry constricted during the recession. However, with the auto industry’s rebound, the Ohio job market economy are expected to continue on their solid path of recovery, creating job opportunities for the state’s nearly 6 million workers.

Ohio Job Opportunities

Trade, transportation and utilities is the top sector for jobs in Ohio, followed by education/and health services and government. Thanks to its location in the middle of the country, the Buckeye State attracts manufacturing companies seeking to leverage the convenience and cost-effectiveness of shipping from a central location. Manufacturing has shown recent signs of recovery, while government employment has been declining steadily. The leisure and hospitality and finance sectors have reported spotty declines.

Ohio Employment Trends

The Ohio job market has shown solid improvement since the recession. Online hiring has expanded at a double-digit pace for more than a year. The unemployment rate, which peaked at 10.6 percent from July 2009 to January 2010, was below 8 percent in the first half of 2012. Most notably, Ohio payrolls -- which declined from mid-2006 to mid-2010 -- have seen slight but positive recovery since mid-2010.

Moody’s Analytics is forecasting that Ohio jobs will increase 1 percent between Q2 2012 and Q2 2013, below the 1.3 percent gain expected in the nation’s job supply over that time period.