For the Columbus economy June 2022 report, we find the metro area continues to post generally positive numbers versus 2021 and 2020. The data comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Overall Metro Area June 2022 and Change from June 2021
Labor Force: 1,130,201 +7,231
Employed: 1,087,813 +24,480
Unemployed: 42,388 -17,249
Unemployment Rate: 3.8% -1.5
Total Non-Farm Jobs: 1,125,000 +26,400
Numbers improved versus a year prior across the board, though with relatively slow labor force growth.

Overall Metro Area June 2022 and Change from February 2020 (Pre-Pandemic)
Labor Force: 1,130,201 +9,397
Employed: 1,087,813 +10,973
Unemployed: 42,388 -1,576
Unemployment Rate: 3.8% -0.1
Total Non-Farm Jobs: 1,125,000 +13,600
The metro area continues to be above pre-pandemic levels on all measurements.

Now let’s view the results by industry.

Mining/Logging/Construction
6/2020———–6/2021———-6/2022
45,000————46,300———48,500
This industry has fully recovered from the pandemic and is the highest since at least 1990.

Manufacturing
6/2020———–6/2021———-6/2022
69,600———–72,400———-72,900
Manufacturing has recovered from the pandemic period, but isn’t growing nearly as fast as other industries.

Trade/Transportation/Utilities
6/2020———–6/2021———-6/2022
213,300———-222,500———239,800
Fully recovered, this industry is at all-time highs.

Information
6/2020———–6/2021———-6/2022
15,500———–15,600———-16,700
The pandemic didn’t affect this industry much, as it was already in a general decline since the late 1990s-early 2000s.

Financial Activities
6/2020———–6/2021———-6/2022
84,300———–84,700———-85,400
Numbers for this industry have kind of been all over the place in recent years, but seem to be mostly stagnant since around 2016, so the pandemic didn’t have a strong effect either way.

Professional and Business Services
6/2020———–6/2021———-6/2022
171,000———-179,400———179,900
As with the financial activities industry, this one has been rather stagnant since about 2015-2016.

Education and Health Services
6/2020———–6/2021———-6/2022
149,700———-158,800———158,600
Education and Health were hard hit during the pandemic, and while they have recovered most of their lost jobs, have been unable to date to push past pre-pandemic highs.

Leisure and Hospitality
6/2020———–6/2021———-6/2022
86,400———-100,500———-109,600
The hardest hit industry by far, it has recovered the vast majority of lost jobs, but still remains a bit below pre-pandemic levels.

Other Services
6/2020———–6/2021———-6/2022
35,800———–40,400———-42,000
This industry is basically recovered.

Government
6/2020———–6/2021———-6/2022
171,200———-177,000———171,600
Government jobs have struggled to recover, and 2022 is not moving in the right direction, though this may not have anything to do with the pandemic.