For the Columbus economy May 2022 report, we will look for any signs that the local economy is being negatively affected by ongoing inflation and higher energy prices.
Overall Metro Area May 2022 and Change from May 2021 Labor Force: 1,132,871 +24,699 Employed: 1,100,438 +43,723 Unemployed: 32,433 -19,024 Unemployment Rate: 2.9% -1.7 Total Non-Farm Jobs: 1,123,200 +28,300
The 2.9% May unemployment rate for the Columbus metro remains one of the lowest in more than 30 years, and all metrics were better than they were a year ago.
Overall Metro Area May 2022 and Change from February 2020 (Pre-Pandemic) Labor Force: 1,132,871 +12,067 Employed: 1,100,438 +23,598 Unemployed: 32,433 -11,531 Unemployment Rate: 2.9% -1.0 Total Non-Farm Jobs: 1,123,200 +11,800 The metro area has surpassed pre-pandemic data across the board.
Now let’s view the results by industry.
Mining/Logging/Construction 5/2020———–5/2021———-5/2022 43,200————45,700———47,500 This industry has fully recovered from the pandemic and continues to set new highs.
Manufacturing 5/2020———–5/2021———-5/2022 66,700———–71,900———-72,300 Although manufacturing has largely recovered from pandemic lows, it remains *well* below anytime before 2000.
Trade/Transportation/Utilities 5/2020———–5/2021———-5/2022 205,400———-221,000———238,000 This industry is at 30 year highs.
Information 5/2020———–5/2021———-5/2022 15,500———–15,600———-16,600 The industry has been in somewhat of a decline overall since the Dot.com boom of the late 1990s. It recovered most pandemic losses, but seems unlikely to do much better in the long run.
Financial Activities 5/2020———–5/2021———-5/2022 83,900———–84,500———-83,700 Financial activities jobs have declined slightly since recovering its pandemic losses.
Professional and Business Services 5/2020———–5/2021———-5/2022 166,500———-179,600———178,200 As with the financial activities industry, this industry initially recovered from the pandemic, but has stagnated a bit since then.
Education and Health Services 5/2020———–5/2021———-5/2022 145,600———-159,700———158,800 These industries have been somewhat stagnant as well since around October, 2020.
Leisure and Hospitality 5/2020———–5/2021———-5/2022 69,000———-97,200———-107,600 This industry was arguably hit the hardest of any during the pandemic crash, but have recovered fairly strongly since then. However, because the fall was so great, it has not completely come back to date.
Other Services 5/2020———–5/2021———-5/2022 32,800———–39,800———-41,500 This industry is on track for full recovery by late summer.
Government 5/2020———–5/2021———-5/2022 177,500———-179,900———179,000 Government jobs remain below where they were pre-pandemic, and have shown little movement either way.
Overall, the metro has recovered from the pandemic and most metrics are generally positive, but not all industries are doing equally well. There remains no sign of any impending downturn.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, the source of this data, is useful for local employment data for any metro area in the United States.
Time for the Winter 2021-2022 review! Overall, this past winter was much warmer than normal, but almost entirely because of a scorching December. This brought only about 50% of normal snowfall for the season despite being one of the wettest winters on record. This review includes new data not given for past winter reviews- wind and cloud information.
December-February Only Average High: 41.7 Tied for 19th Warmest Average Low: 24.7 Tied for 38th Warmest Mean: 33.2 Tied for 27th Warmest Precipitation: 13.24″ 6th Wettest Snowfall: 11.6″ Tied for 32nd Least Snowy Average Daily Snow Depth: 0.4″ Tied for 5th Lowest Largest Snowstorm: 4.5″ on 2/3-2/4. # of 32 or Below Highs: 26 Tied for 20th Fewest # of 32 or Below Lows: 69 Tied for 17th Fewest # of Measurable Precipitation Days: 33 Tied for 9th Fewest # of Measurable Snowfall Days: 12 Tied for 8th Fewest Highest Average Daily Wind Speed in MPH: 18.6 on January 5th Highest Wind Gust in MPH: 54 on December 11th # of Clear Days: 11 12.2% # of Partly Cloudy Days: 43 47.8% # of Cloudy Days: 36 40.0%
The core of the winter was warm and wet, but with relatively few precipitation days that just brought higher individual totals. Snowfall was way below normal for the period, with no snow events at or above 6″ for the 6th winter in a row. The last time a snow event dropped at least 6″ was on February 21, 2015. 6″ events, historically, have occurred about every 2 years, so in the last 7 years, Columbus should’ve had at least three.
Entire Cold Season: October-April Average High: 52.1 Tied for 8th Warmest Average Low: 33.7 Tied for 21st Warmest Mean: 42.9 Tied for 12th Warmest Precipitation: 24.32″ Tied for 20th Wettest Snowfall: 14.5″ 27th Lowest Average Snow Depth: 0.2″ Tied for 3rd Lowest Largest Snowstorm: 4.5″ on 2/3-2/4 # of 32 or Below Highs: 27 Tied for 17th Fewest # of 32 or Below Lows: 100 Tied for 19th Fewest # of Measurable Precipitation Days: 82 Tied for 17th Fewest # of Measurable Snowfall Days: 17 Tied for 8th Fewest Highest Average Daily Wind Speed in MPH: 18.6 on January 5th Highest Wind Gust in MPH: 54 on December 11th # of Clear Days: 23 10.8% # of Partly Cloudy Days: 105 49.6% # of Cloudy Days: 84 39.6%
The overall cold season was very warm and wet just as the core winter was, with a very warm October and December.
Average High By Month October 2021: 70.6 Tied for 10th Warmest November 2021: 50.9 Tied for 47th Coldest December 2021: 50.5 3rd Warmest January 2022: 33.5 Tied for 30th Coldest February 2022: 41.2 Tied for 35th Warmest March 2022: 56.8 Tied for 11th Warmest April 2022: 60.1 Tied for 36th Coldest
Average Low By Month October 2021: 53.9 1st Warmest November 2021: 32.7 Tied for 25th Coldest December 2021: 33.1 9th Warmest January 2022: 17.2 28th Coldest February 2022: 23.7 55th Coldest March 2022: 33.8 35th Warmest April 2022: 40.9 Tied for 32nd Coldest
Mean By Month October 2021: 62.2 Tied for 3rd Warmest November 2021: 41.8 Tied for 33rd Coldest December 2021: 41.8 4th Warmest January 2022: 25.3 29th Coldest February 2022: 32.5 46th Warmest March 2022: 45.3 Tied for 20th Warmest April 2022: 50.5 Tied for 34th Coldest
Precipitation By Month October 2021: 3.57″ Tied for 28th Wettest November 2021: 1.90″ 40th Driest December 2021: 4.51″ 13th Wettest January 2022: 2.61″ 59th Wettest February 2022: 6.12″ Tied for 4th Wettest March 2022: 2.29″ 37th Driest April 2022: 3.32″ 58th Wettest
Snowfall By Month October 2021: 0.0″ Tied for 1st Least Snowy November 2021: 0.6″ Tied for 8th Least Snowy December 2021: 0.5″ Tied for 7th Least Snowy January 2022: 6.3″ Tied for 45th Least Snowy February 2022: 4.8″ Tied for 35th Least Snowy March 2022: 2.2″ Tied for 22nd Least Snowy April 2022: 0.1″ Tied for 3rd Least Snowy
Average Snow Depth By Month October 2021: 0.0″ November 2021: 0.0″ December 2021: Trace January 2022: 0.5″ February 2022: 0.7″ March 2022: 0.1″ April 2022: 0.0″
Maximum High By Month October 2021: 86 on the 14th November 2021: 69 on the 8th and 11th December 2021: 65 on the 11th and 27th January 2022: 59 on the 1st February 2022: 62 on the 21st March 2022: 80 on the 30th April 2022: 84 on the 23rd
Maximum High Records The 86 on October 14th tied the record for the date, last set in 1897.
Minimum High By Month October 2021: 51 on the 27th November 2021: 37 on the 14th December 2021: 27 on the 7th January 2022: 19 on the 29th February 2022: 21 on the 5th March 2022: 28 on the 12th April 2022: 41 on the 18th
Maximum Low By Month October 2021: 68 on the 7th November 2021: 48 on the 17th December 2021: 49 on the 25th January 2022: 41 on the 1st February 2022: 49 on the 22nd March 2022: 54 on the 6th April 2022: 62 on the 24th
Maximum Low Records -The 65 on October 14th was a record for the date, beating the old record of 62 set in 1879. -The 64 on October 15th was a record for the date, beating the old record of 62 set in 1897.
Minimum Low By Month October 2021: 38 on the 27th November 2021: 22 on the 23rd December 2021: 20 on the 7th and 23rd January 2022: 0 on the 26th February 2022: 11 on the 14th March 2022: 15 on the 13th April 2022: 25 on the 2nd
Highest Daily Precipitation By Month October 2021: 0.82″ on the 24th November 2021: 0.66″ on the 11th December 2021: 1.44″ on the 6th January 2022: 1.34″ on the 1st February 2022: 1.83″ on the 17th March 2022: 1.30″ on the 7th April 2022: 0.64″ on the 18th
Precipitation Records -The 1.44″ on December 6th was a record for the date, beating the old record of 1.10″ in 1971. -The 0.82″ on December 25th was a record for the date, beating the old record of 0.79″ in 2009. -The 1.34″ on January 1st was a record for the date, beating the old record of 1.28″ in 1948. -The 1.83″ on February 17th was a record for the date, beating the old record of 0.74″ in 1910. -The 1.40″ on February 22nd was a record for the date, beating the old record of 0.96″ in 1971.
Highest Daily Snowfall By Month October 2021: 0.0″ November 2021: 0.4″ on the 14th December 2021: 0.3″ on the 7th January 2022: 1.7″ on the 16th February 2022: 3.3″ on the 3rd March 2022: 2.1″ on the 11th April 2022: 0.1″ on the 1st
Deepest Snow Depth By Month October 2021: 0″ November 2021: Trace on the 26th and 27th December2021: Trace on the 8th January 2022: 2″ on the 17th, 18th and 25th February 2022: 4″ on the 5th and 6th March 2022: 2″ on the 12th April 2022: 0″
Average Daily Wind Speed by Month in MPH October 2021: 7.3 November 2021: 7.8 December 2021: 7.8 January 2022: 9.1 February 2022: 9.2 March: 2022: 10.0 April: 2022: 9.5
Highest Wind Gust by Month in MPH October 2021: 40 on the 17th November 2021: 40 on the 12th December 2021: 54 on the 11th January: 2022: 40 on the 5th February 2022: 41 on the 17th March 2022: 45 on the 7th April 2022: 42 on the 25th
Clear Days by Month October 2021: 3 9.6% November 2021: 5 16.7% December 2021: 4 12.9% January 2022: 3 9.6% February 2022: 4 14.3% March 2022: 2 6.5% April 2022: 2 6.7%
Partly Cloudy Days by Month October 2021: 14 45.2% November 2021: 15 50.0% December 2021: 13 41.9% January 2022: 16 51.7% February 2022: 14 50.0% March 2022: 18 58.0% April 2022: 15 50.0%
Cloudy Days by Month October 2021: 14 45.2% November 2021: 10 33.3% December 2021: 14 45.2% January 2022: 12 38.7% February 2022: 10 35.7% March 2022: 11 35.5% April 2022: 13 43.3%
The following file contains a full daily record of the December-February winter period. Winter 2021-2022 Dailies
