The official U.S. unemployment rate is 5.2% (and 5.4% in Ohio). However, when including individuals who are no longer looking for a job but who would welcome the chance to work, the “real” unemployment rate is closer to 8.2%, says OMA Connections Partner RSM. Meanwhile, there are three million fewer workers in the U.S. labor force today compared to February 2020. (Here are the labor force participation rates for the U.S. and Ohio.) In August, the nation’s “quit rate” reached a record 2.9% — 25% higher than before the pandemic. In manufacturing, the quit rate is 2.5% — the lowest of six major sectors of the economy. “But it has accelerated every bit as quickly as factories race to poach one another’s workers and increase production as supply-chain issues reshuffle the global manufacturing landscape,” The Washington Post reports.10/14/2021