By recent standards 2012 has been a very good year for Ohio economically. By looking at the job numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it is apparent that 2012 has been the best year for private sector job growth in nearly two decades.

The private sector grew by 26,000 in January and a bit over 23,000 in February. We hit a dip of nearly 8,000 during the time period of March and April but were back to gaining over 18,000 a month May through July. Overall, Ohio has gained 98,800 private sector jobs through August and is averaging over 14,100 per month gained.

Ohio has not seen private sector job growth as high as this January and February since August 1998 and has not had that high of an average monthly growth rate since 1994. This growth is a big reason Ohio’s unemployment rate is 7.2 percent as compared to the national rate of 8.1 percent.

While all of this is positive, there are some troubling signs as well. First, the positive trend on private sector growth hit a bump in August as it saw a decline of 2,000 during the month according to preliminary BLS data.

Additionally, the labor force in Ohio has shrunk by nearly 40,000 since December of 2011. It has dropped in each of the last three months after having expanded from January through May.

While there could be multiple explanations for this development, one of the more troubling answers could be that despite solid growth this year, it is not fast enough to consistently absorb the number of people seeking jobs. This then leads to those individuals eventually stop seeking regular employment and dropping out of the labor force.

These most recent numbers are clearly being noted by the Kasich Administration as the Governor commented last week, "As I look at the velocity of the jobs, we’re starting to see signs that are not good."

Here is the bottom line. Ohio appears to be making serious progress in job growth. However, it is clear that not all of the economic storm clouds that had gathered overhead during the “Great Recession” are completely clear. External shocks, including those from overseas, and poor policy can still snatch defeat away from victory. The Buckeye Institute continues to stand strong on our principles to make sure that does not happen.