Robert Half "February 2021 Updates"

In case you missed it, Columbus was featured prominently in a Wall Street Journal article last weekend.  The focus of the article was to highlight various Midwestern cities whose labor markets were proving relatively resilient in the face of COVID-19.  Indianapolis, Minneapolis, and Cincinnati were also mentioned, but Columbus received the most attention.  Various reasons were given for Columbus’s success: a diverse economy anchored by large public and private sector institutions, the pipeline of talent from Ohio State University, a recent influx of technology startups with pandemic-resistant service offerings, targeted fiscal stimulus, our competitive advantage as a logistics hub, etc.  The list goes on and on, and as a long-time Columbus resident, I was happy to see our city getting some well-deserved national attention.
 

Nevertheless, this is the quote that stuck with me: “Columbus moved from having a near average unemployment rate in 2019 to having among the nation’s lowest rates for major metro areas last year… By December, the professional and business services sector was almost back to its year-ago level.
 

This mirrors what we’re experiencing at Robert Half.  Despite the headwinds that large segments of the national labor market are facing, Columbus’s professional labor market is extremely tight.  As unimaginable as it seemed just a few months ago, we are back in a candidate-driven market.  While I don’t have current unemployment figures for Columbus (which are only reliably reported quarterly), I can provide anecdotal insight.  Our clients are being forced to compete for talent – whether that’s speeding up their hiring process, paying above-market wages, providing flexible work arrangements, or even considering fully-remote workers from different geographies.  If you’re hiring, please let me know if I can provide a complimentary copy of our Salary Guide or our Demand for Skilled Talent report.
 

 If you are looking for a specific skillset not represented by the contractors below, please reach out – if it’s accounting, finance, HR, administrative, technology, or operations related, I’m sure we can help.


Hunter Lent, CPA
Client Service Director
Phone: (419) 297-5841
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