 "Photo: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics")
Ohio's unemployment rate reached 8.8 percent in January, the highest it's been since November 1985, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
According to Brian Harter, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS), heavily industrial areas are suffering the most.
"Toledo and Youngstown have really struggled," Harter said. "The makeup of those cities includes more of an industrial presence."
Harter said the loss of manufacturing jobs can impact other sectors of the economy.
"If a plant closes in a community, everything else is affected-trucking, restaurants, retail-it creates sometimes a catastrophic snowball effect," Harter said.
Harter said he attributes part of the decline in manufacturing to a lack of consumer confidence.
"People aren't able to borrow money to buy cars and homes," Harter said. "It's going to take the economy turning around and consumer confidence going up to fix this."
Harter said the ODJFS received 136,000 first-time unemployment claims in January, an increase of 71 percent from 2008, making it the second month in a row with more than 100,000 new claims.
Fifteen of Ohio's 88 counties have unemployment rates below the national rate, which is 8.5, or 7.6 accounting for seasonal employment.
Harter said areas around large cities such as Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati have lower unemployment rates because of their "more diverse" economies.
In Butler County, the unemployment rate jumped from 6.6 percent in December 2008 to 8.5 percent in January, according to the BLS. There are currently 16,000 unemployed members of the workforce in Butler County.
Jerome Kearns, assistant director of the Butler County Department of Job and Family Services (JFS), said JFS alone is struggling to meet increasing demand with shrinking resources. Kearns said in addition to the JFS budget being cut, a dozen JFS employees were laid off earlier this year and now, it is more difficult to support the influx of people requesting the department's services.
"We're meeting the demand, but I don't know how long that can continue," Kearns said.
Don Kell, job center manager for the WorkForce One of Butler County, said demands for services started increasing in late summer and fall. WorkForce One was created 10 years ago by the WorkForce Investment Act to help residents connect with employers, search for jobs and training and work on their resumes.
Kell said attendance at the twice-weekly orientation sessions held at WorkForce One has increased dramatically. According to Kell, 324 people attended the orientation sessions in February, up from 132 in February 2008.
Kell said there has been a change in the kind of people coming to WorkForce One from a year ago.
"We have an older group, people who have had solid work histories who have worked for 10 or 15 years at one company and are now out of work, and haven't done a resume or searched for a job in a long time," Kell said.
Kell said job seekers were not just from the manufacturing sector, but also include many retail workers and professionals. Kell said he is hopeful the stimulus package will help increase the number of jobs available but wouldn't say how much.
"It's a lot of money, and it'll trickle down to the local level, but how much remains to be seen," Kell said.
