The Dayton metro area counted 402,300 nonfarm payroll jobs in September 2026 — 2,800 more than a year earlier and the most since December 2003, when the count was 403,500 — according to preliminary, seasonally adjusted figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics analyzed by Dayton Report.
The milestone caps a long climb back for the three-county Dayton-Kettering metro — Montgomery, Greene and Miami counties. From a series high of 427,100 in May 2000, employment fell to 358,600 by December 2009, a loss of 68,500 jobs, Dayton Report’s analysis of the BLS data shows. The count had recovered to 392,800 by February 2020, plunged to 332,300 in April 2020 as the pandemic hit, and returned to its pre-pandemic level in November 2023.
September’s total sits 43,700 jobs above the 2009 low, though it remains 24,800 below the May 2000 peak in the BLS series, which begins in 1990, according to Dayton Report. City staff cited the same 402,300 figure at the Dayton City Commission’s Nov. 4 meeting.
By industry, comparing September 2026 with September 2025 on an unadjusted basis, the metro added 3,300 jobs, led by education and health services, up 2,200, according to the BLS figures published by Dayton Report. Professional and business services added 700, mining, logging and construction added 600, and leisure and hospitality added 600, while manufacturing and trade, transportation and utilities each added 400.
Not every sector grew. Government employment fell by 800 over the year, other services fell 400, and information and financial activities each fell 200, according to Dayton Report’s summary of the BLS data.
The Dayton metro also outpaced its benchmarks over the year: jobs grew 0.7 percent locally, compared with 0.3 percent statewide in Ohio and 0.4 percent nationally, on a seasonally adjusted basis, Dayton Report reported from the BLS figures.
The September figures are preliminary. The Bureau of Labor Statistics revises recent months as more employers report, and each March it re-benchmarks the past year against fuller counts from state unemployment insurance records — revisions that can move the numbers in either direction, Dayton Report noted.
Photo: Downtown Dayton. Photo: PrettyFlyForaGemini, CC BY-SA