OHIO — The latest jobs report showed gains across the U.S. economy with lower unemployment rates, which was better than what economists expected.

What You Need To Know

• Experts are still urging caution not to put too much emphasis on the data


• Those who returned to work from the picket lines in the past couple of months may have helped to drive those numbers down


• Many consumers are charging these days and there is concern of how things will play out with student loans back in play

“Overall, when you look through the volatility, the message that we see is the pace of hiring is slowing, but it’s still pretty steady.” He added that for Ohio and other states in the Midwest, there’s been good as there’s been more support economically. That includes “Things like restoring manufacturing activity, building new manufacturing plants, and then you know, hiring to staff those plants as well,” said Brandon Zureick, managing director at Johnson Investment Counsel. 

While the numbers are good and more people are working, they are also spending more post pandemic. There is some concern by experts that with all the spending, things may shift for consumers soon, as many are using credit cards to pay for purchases now that stimulus money has run out and student loans repayments are due again.

“The story would be that the consumer still looks okay, but possibly some cracks starting to emerge just given the mounting headwinds we’ve seen the consumer face over the past year or two,” Zureick said.

Keeping those things in mind, along with the jobs report, Zureick’s hope is that the U.S. can avoid a recession and that Ohio and the Midwest will come out better than the rest of the nation as there’s movement into 2024.