Clark County, state still struggles with long-term joblessness


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The Springfield News-Sun provides unmatched coverage of jobs and the economy in Clark and Champaign counties. For this story, the paper spoke to economists, local workforce development experts and workers to shed light on the affect of long-term unemployment in Ohio.

By the numbers:

69,500 — People in Clark County working and looking for work in January 2006

64,000 — People in Clark County working and looking for work in January 2016

20,200 — People in Champaign County working and looking for work in January 2006

19,900 — People in Champaign County working and looking for work in January 2016

6.7 million — Long-term unemployed in the U.S. in the second quarter of 2010

2.8 million —Long-term unemployed in the U.S. at the end of 2014

11.4 — Percent of the unemployed looking for work 99 weeks or longer at the end of 2014

44.6 — Percent of those 55 years and older unemployed and looking for work 27 weeks or longer

22.1 — Percent of unemployed younger than 25 looking for work 27 weeks or longer

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

By the numbers:

69,500 — People in Clark County working and looking for work in January 2006

64,000 — People in Clark County working and looking for work in January 2016

20,200 — People in Champaign County working and looking for work in January 2006

19,900 — People in Champaign County working and looking for work in January 2016

6.7 million — Long-term unemployed in the U.S. in the second quarter of 2010

2.8 million —Long-term unemployed in the U.S. at the end of 2014

11.4 — Percent of the unemployed looking for work 99 weeks or longer at the end of 2014

44.6 — Percent of those 55 years and older unemployed and looking for work 27 weeks or longer

22.1 — Percent of unemployed younger than 25 looking for work 27 weeks or longer

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

By the numbers:

69,500 — People in Clark County working and looking for work in January 2006

64,000 — People in Clark County working and looking for work in January 2016

20,200 — People in Champaign County working and looking for work in January 2006

19,900 — People in Champaign County working and looking for work in January 2016

6.7 million — Long-term unemployed in the U.S. in the second quarter of 2010

2.8 million —Long-term unemployed in the U.S. at the end of 2014

11.4 — Percent of the unemployed looking for work 99 weeks or longer at the end of 2014

44.6 — Percent of those 55 years and older unemployed and looking for work 27 weeks or longer

22.1 — Percent of unemployed younger than 25 looking for work 27 weeks or longer

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Thousands of Ohioans — including residents in Clark and Champaign counties — still struggle for months to find work years after the end of the Great Recession.

That’s despite a statewide economy that has regularly added jobs since the end of the downturn.

Although long-term joblessness has fallen in recent years nationwide, federal data shows it still makes up a larger share of unemployment than during any previous recession.

In Ohio alone, about a third of the 318,000 unemployed residents in 2014 were jobless for six months or more, according to the most recent state data available.

Economists see signs that thousands of able workers remain unemployed or in part-time jobs that make it difficult to pay bills from week to week. That includes a plummeting labor force, an indication many may have given up looking for work..

John Hobbs, 60, of Springfield, worked through the Great Recession and had years of experience as a civilian at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and later NCR. He has been looking for steady work since 2013 and never imagined he’d be unemployed for long. But he’s mostly found only low-paying or temporary jobs.

Hobbs is one of thousands of workers experts said have been left behind. Slightly more than 1 in 10 of all jobless Americans had been looking for work for 99 weeks or longer at the end of 2014, according to federal data.

“I never dreamed I’d be here and now I have a different outlook,” Hobbs said. “There are people who use the system, but there are people like me who are trying, and age does have a factor in it. I feel like I do have 10 good years left in me.”

Mixed economic signals

Ohio’s economy has significantly improved in the past few years, said Joe Nichols, a policy analyst at the Buckeye Institute, a conservative think tank.

The state has added about 82,000 jobs in the last year alone, and jobless rates across Ohio are at their lowest levels in more than a decade. And the number of Ohioans considered long-term unemployed has been slashed in the past three years, Nichols said.

The average number of weeks Ohioans have remained unemployed has steadily fallen, from an average of 40 weeks in 2011, to 30 weeks in 2014, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The number of people unemployed in Ohio overall has also fallen from about 500,000 in 2011 to about 318,000 at the end of 2014, Nichols said.

The shorter time workers are out of a job is one sign the economy has improved, he said.

“Overall there has been substantial improvement,” Nichols said.

But it’s not clear how much of the improvement in the unemployment rates locally is due to job growth, as opposed to some frustrated workers who simply drop out of the workforce entirely.

The BLS also tracks statistics that include workers who are employed part-time but want full-time jobs, along with those only marginally attached to the labor force. If those factors are taken into account, Ohio’s unemployment rate may be closer to 10 percent, said Hannah Halbert of Policy Matters Ohio, a left-leaning think tank.

“The unemployment rate is masking a little bit of this large labor pool that’s available,” Halbert said.

Ohio’s labor force participation rate, the percentage of the population working or seeking work, was 62.8 percent at the end of 2014, the lowest in more than a decade.

Clark County had about 69,500 people working and looking for work, including about 4,400 unemployed in January 2006, before the start of the Great Recession. That fell to 64,000 people in the workforce, including about 3,900 unemployed a decade later.

In Champaign County, the labor force had about 20,200 people working and looking for work, including about 1,200 unemployed in January 2006. That fell to about 19,900, including about 1,000 unemployed this January.

“The concern is since the Great Recession really started back in early 2007 or 2008, the labor force participation rate has just cratered,” Nichols said. “There is a big question there of, are people not long-term unemployed because they’re getting jobs or because they’re dropping out of the labor force? There’s a good indication they may just be dropping out of the labor force.”

Personal impact

Hobbs has Associate’s degrees in electrical engineering and computer networking. For years, he worked on turbine engines as an engineering technician at Wright-Patt.

He was laid off in 1997, he sold software online and eventually went back to school for computer networking. He then landed a job with NCR repairing ATM machines.

But that job ended as well.

He’s been looking for a steady position since then and been on several interviews. Hobbs also has worked in some temporary jobs.

Now Hobbs has sought help finding a work through OhioMeansJobs of Clark County but hasn’t found a full-time spot yet. He isn’t receiving unemployment benefits and the family mostly survives on his wife’s Social Security payments, along with odd jobs he has worked periodically.

Searching for work can take an emotional toll, Hobbs said.

“It’s harder to find a job than it is to work a job,” he said. “It’s frustrating and it doesn’t pay very well.”

The public often has several misconceptions about the long-term unemployed, including that they simply don’t want to work, said Lehan Peters, deputy director of OhioMeansJobs of Clark County.

But some resident struggle to find work for numerous reasons — ranging from a lack of skills to transportation problems.

Sometimes workers need to take steep cuts in pay to return to the workforce, Peters said, but that’s often a hard choice.

In most cases, Clark County has resources to provide training and get residents back to work, she said.

“It’s not easy to walk in their shoes or make some of the decisions these individuals have to make,” Peters said. “There are a lot of things where I feel like people are pigeon-holed or stereotyped because they’re not actively employed. There are a lot of things that go into it and every person is different.”

Hobbs has considered taking low-paying jobs, he said, but is concerned it could affect his wife’s Social Security benefits and result in a lower overall income for the family.

“If I take a low-paying job, my wife and I would actually be going backward,” Hobbs said.

Going unemployed for long stretches has an emotional impact on many residents, said Mike Calabrese, executive director of Opportunities for Individual Change of Clark County. The non-profit agency offers job training and other resources.

“It could be your age, or it could be just be that you’ve faced so much rejection,” Calabrese said. “There are lots of emotional issues that go along when people are fighting long-term unemployment.”

Older workers, minorities hit harder

Some demographic groups fared worse than others since the recession, according to the BLS, including older workers. Black and Asian Americans were also more likely to be unemployed for 27 weeks or longer.

Men are also slightly more likely to be unemployed than women.

At the end of 2014, about 22 percent of residents 25 and younger and unemployed had been out of work for six months or longer, BLS data showed. For workers older than 55 though, that figure balloons to about 45 percent.

“Typically there is a two-fold problem that long-term unemployed people face,” Calabrese said. “One is their age. Usually these are older workers so they feel that they are on somewhat of a disconnect and also feel somewhat disenfranchised just by the fact that they’ve been out of work. There is also a psychological effect that goes along with that that makes an individual feel isolated.”

Those issues can be compounded because older workers sometimes do jobs that might earn money in the short term, but don’t contribute to retirement savings that might provide some financial security later.

“It’s a compounding problem and it has collateral issues,” Calabrese said.

He’s concerned because a handful of large retail businesses have closed over the past year. Macy’s and J.C. Penney both closed their locations at the Upper Valley Mall early last year. And Target closed its Springfield location this past January.

“When you talk about retail like that, those are typically older workers,” he said. “Some of those people are collecting unemployment now so that means we’re not seeing them yet.”

Local resources

Area experts said the region has placed an increasing focus on retraining people who want to get back into the workforce.

Clark State Community College received a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor and recently opened a new manufacturing lab, for example. That grant also pays for a career navigator position housed at OhioMeansJobs Clark County to recruit out-of-work residents who would be a good fit for the program.

OIC offers training in fields like construction trades and precision machining. And OhioMeansJobs has a variety of training programs, and in some cases can work with employers to offer an on-the-job training contract that subsidizes a portion of a worker’s pay for a period of time, Peters said.

“There’s are a lot of things we’re doing with individuals to address their basic needs, identify what barriers exist and see if we can remove the barriers until we can move forward and help them find gainful employment,” she said.

Ohio should place a greater emphasis on funding programs that help the long-term unemployed return to work, argued Halbert, of Policy Matters Ohio. Studies have shown activities like providing in-person meetings with a career counselor, an assessment and developing an individual plan for re-employment has a significant positive impact, she said.

But she said much of Ohio’s strategy relies on OhioMeansJobs’ online one-stop system, which can be difficult to navigate for some residents.

“That is not the most effective strategy,” Halbert said. “It might work for some people, but by and large, especially when we’re talking about people who are longer-term unemployed, they really need that more intensive service. That’s one big area that could be improved.”

She also suggested state leaders could consider a public works program, in which individuals in targeted areas could receive experience and training to work on infrastructure projects.

The biggest challenge, Calbrese said, is getting some residents in the door to get help in the first place.

“Education may have been such a challenge for them when they were younger that they don’t feel adequate to go to training programs,” Calabrese said. “There are lots of challenges here. The important thing is that you provide a conduit and the opportunities for these people for them to feel like they have somewhere to go.”

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