COLUMBUS, Ohio – Economists at Nationwide have released a new study saying that job growth in Ohio has been very strong so far in 2024. It said that the state’s economy has been helped by the addition of more than a thousand jobs in the first quarter.
A top economist at Nationwide named Ben Ayers said this was better than expected.
“It’s the same as what we see across the country.” Early in the year, Ayers said, “we were afraid that maybe we would have a recession this year.” Those worries are now less strong.
Ayers said that the service industry and the building industry are seeing a lot of growth. He did say, though, that some are having a hard time.
“The service side has seen the most growth.” It looks like work is doing pretty well in some places. Ayers said, “Manufacturing is one that hasn’t done as well in Ohio over the last year and a half. People have stopped buying goods and bought more services.”
This news comes just a few days after Express, a company in central Ohio, said it might fire 600 workers and close its main office.
The business put in for bankruptcy on Monday. The company sent out a statement that said, in part, “We are required by certain state and federal laws to notify of possible job losses, even as we work to complete a sale of the company through a court-supervised process.”
NBC4 asked Ayers what he thought about what was going on.
“A lot of businesses may be having trouble because they are having trouble adjusting to the new environment.” “The good news is that there are a lot of job openings,” Ayers said.
Ayers said that there are more open jobs right now than people who are looking for work. He said that this costs employers money because they have to pay fair wages, which helps workers.
“You know, that’s just the way things are right now—if you want to hire someone, you’ll have to pay more.” Ayers said, “And overall, we’re seeing stronger-than-usual wage growth in most industries. This is likely to continue all year and maybe even into next year.”
Ayers said that the only thing that worries him is that inflation is making some people in the middle and lower classes more in debt. Based on what he said, it’s not really getting bad yet.
