Unemployment is a plague that has infected workers all across the country, and Ohioans have been no exception. However, the job search for the long-term unemployed now has a greater sense of urgency with the termination of federal assistance, and Ohio in particular offers a variety of tools to help in the search process.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate as of January 2014 was at 6.6 percent nationally, equating to approximately 10.2 million unemployed people. Of the 10.2 million, 35.8 percent or 3.6 million people qualify as long-term unemployed after being unemployed for 27 weeks or more.
Federal unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed were initially extended as a federal emergency action during the 2008 financial crisis, at a time of rising unemployment. These benefits applied to million of Americans who exhausted their regular state unemployment benefits. However, in December the federal extended-benefits program was allowed to expire.
According to Ohio Department of Job and Family Services spokesman Ben Johnson, in Ohio that means approximately 52,000 people exhausted their benefits in December, including people who would have continued collecting if the federal program continued to exist. Of that group, approximately 37,608 people collected their final week of benefits after exhausting all federal and state benefits, and are no longer receiving unemployment compensation.
“When we realized at the very least there was a chance the federal program would not be extended, we began to contact clients whose unemployment would likely end at the end of December,” said Johnson. “We encouraged them to visit their county Ohio Means Jobs center and find out about job training opportunities, job search assistance and job opportunities, and if necessary visit the county department of Job and Family Services and find out what other assistance they might be eligible for to help them while they continue to look for work.”
As of December 2013, Ohio was ranked 37th out of 51 states including the District of Columbia, with a 7.2 percent unemployment rate. The rate has since improved to 6.5 percent in February 2014, down from 6.9 percent in January. According to Johnson, in March, approximately 416,000 Ohioans were unemployed, with approximately 113,973 of the unemployed population collecting their 26 weeks of compensation Ohio provides independent of the federal government.
“People are struggling to find work for any number of reasons, whether it’s because they’ve never had to apply for a job online before or the type of work they did for many years is no longer in demand in their region,” he said.
Johnson encouraged unemployed Ohioans to visit their local Ohio Means Jobs center to learn about job training, develop marketable skills and become a stronger candidate for employment. Richland County’s own Ohio Means Jobs center is located at 171 Park Avenue East, headed by Assistant Director Lori Bedson. According to Bedson, as of January 2014 Richland County had 6,278 claimants for regular unemployment insurance benefits. Of the 6,278 claims, 618 were new claims and 5,660 were continuing claims during the month of January.
The Ohio Means Jobs center offers equipment for job searching such as computers, Internet access and telephones, frequently receives job postings from local employers, and can provide job search workshops.
“Anywhere from 40 to 120 individuals a day come through our resource room,” said Bedson.
Bedson explained that Richland County’s Ohio Means Jobs and Job and Family Services work as the same entity, with Job and Family Services providing public assistance for those eligible for food, cash or medical assistance.
“Those two things dovetail very nicely because our individuals who are receiving cash and food assistance are required to do some type of work component,” said Bedson. “It’s a great combination of services we can provide.”
With dislocated workers, Bedson said the Ohio Means Jobs agency tends to see them on a one-on-one basis unless they receive information from a company that the company is closing or planning a mass layoff, as was the case with the closing of the Voisard Manufacturing plants in Shelby and Shiloh on Jan. 31. She said she often has trouble contacting dislocated workers after the fact, though she did not have a reason why.
“I’ve been doing this now for a little over 10 years and that’s always been the case; we’ve always struggled with reaching that dislocated worker population,” said Bedson. “We think if we can reach them as soon as they’re unemployed or even before they happen to lose that position, often times we can match them up with another employer who’s looking for those skills. And most employers want someone who has an established work history.”
Once registered with Ohio Means Jobs, unemployed residents can post their resume online and make it available for search by employers. According to Johnson, the site aggregates all job postings around the state through one central website where people can look through tens of thousands of job openings and sort them by skill, job title and region and find jobs that might be a good fit.
“There’s a very real opportunity for that individual who is registered and has a resume created in Ohio Means Jobs to become noticed by an employer looking for individuals,” said Bedson.
Though the unemployment situation seems bleak for now, Johnson is optimistic for Ohio’s future. He noted Ohio’s economy is improving, the state is adding jobs, the number of people receiving unemployment compensation as well as the initial application for unemployment has been declining, and the state is adding jobs in a number of fields.
“The economy is recovering slowly, but there are a number of jobs out there,” said Johnson. “With Ohio Means Jobs, people can develop their skills and resume and cover letter and really put together a packet that makes them a strong candidate for a number of different job openings in their area.”
“There’s a very real opportunity for that individual who is registered and has a resume created in Ohio Means Jobs to become noticed by an employer looking for individuals,” said Lori Bedson.
