Economic Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Ohio

The global COVID-19 pandemic has had sweeping impacts on our society; some of the most dire are economic in nature. In Ohio, stay-at-home orders enacted by Governor DeWine in March 2020 resulted in many Ohioans losing work, in part or altogether. The shutdowns also shifted consumption patterns, with more spending online and at grocery stores taking the place of entertainment, travel, and accommodations. To respond to the economic hardships felt by the pandemic, beginning in late March, the United States federal government issued multiple rounds of financial assistance in the form of business loans, stimulus checks, grants, and contracts. This brief assesses the net employment losses of more than 202,000 over the first three quarters in Ohio in 2020, as well as the positive effect on the economy resulting from over $34 billion in federal spending in the state over the entire year. Due to a lack of 4th quarter employment data, the impacts of each cannot be compared directly.