After several consecutive months of bruising job losses in Wood County, it now appears the bleeding may
have subsided.
The latest unemployment numbers for the county dropped to 11.1 percent from 12.8 percent this summer.
But the local reaction to the drop is cautiously optimistic at best.
"Obviously we’re happy that it’s going down rather than going up," said Tom Blaha, executive
director of the Wood County Economic Development Commission.
But an even better sign is that no WARN notices have been filed recently in the county. Those are notices
required by law if a company is planning to close or have mass layoffs in the next 60 days.
"The good news is that the bleeding has stopped," Blaha said. "You’ve got to stop the
bleeding before you can grow."
Paulette Stephens, director of the Wood County Department of Job and Family Services, shared that
conservative reaction to the unemployment drop.
Since unemployment rates are based on unemployment claims filed, she is concerned that many people have
simply dropped off the rolls.
"I don’t think it’s fully representative of the situation," Stephens said this morning.
"Some people are using up their full 79 weeks" of unemployment benefits, she said. "It
doesn’t mean they’ve found work."
The need is so great that Congress is debating extending unemployment benefits for another 13 weeks,
Stephens said.
Stephen’s agency is seeing a "tremendous demand" for other aid, such as food stamps, cash
assistance and Medicaid.
"Those are continuing to grow," she said.
The other ripples from the high unemployment have been far reaching. The effects can be seen in several
other local statistics: growing home foreclosures, crime rates, demands at food pantries and the free
health clinic, a nosedive in sales tax revenue, and a spike in child abuse and neglect cases.
But unfortunately, Stephens said, few displaced workers are taking advantage of job training offered
through her office.
"We do have training dollars here," she said.
But unemployed workers have been "extremely reluctant" to make use of the training offered by
Penta Career Center and Owens Community College.
"To convince people is very, very hard," Stephens said. "People want a job, they don’t
want training."
Wood County Commissioner Tim Brown agreed this is not the time for the county to rest.
"We’re obviously happy it’s trending downward," he said of the jobless rate. "But I think
we’ve got a ways to go until everyone out there who wants a job has one."
Brown said the commissioners will continue to look for more tools for job growth, such as the
"Recovery Zone" declared in the county earlier this week. "It’s still a priority for
us."
The jobless rate in neighboring counties for August was: Hancock, 10.3 percent; Henry, 12 percent; Lucas,
12.4 percent; Sandusky, 11.1 percent; and Seneca, 12.9 percent.
Nationwide, the number of newly laid-off workers seeking unemployment benefits fell for the third
straight week, evidence that layoffs are continuing to ease in the earliest stages of an economic
recovery.
The Labor Department said today that initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped to a seasonally
adjusted 530,000 from an upwardly revised 551,000 the previous week. The four-week average, which
smooths out fluctuations, dropped to 553,500. That’s the lowest since late January, though still far
above the 325,000 weekly claims typical in a healthy economy, according to the Associated Press.
