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Jobless claims lowest in 3 years

New local employers echo improvement in Ohio and nationwide.

Dave Cashell is one of 175 workers at Code Blue, an insurance processing company based in Springfield. It's one of many area businesses willing to add more employees. Staff file photos

Bill Lackey Dave Cashell is one of 175 workers at Code Blue, an insurance processing company based in Springfield. It's one of many area businesses willing to add more employees. Staff file photos

ENLARGE PHOTO

Marshall Gorby Dave Cashell is one of 175 workers at Code Blue, an insurance processing company based in Springfield. It's one of many area businesses willing to add more employees. Staff file photos

ENLARGE PHOTO

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By William Hershey and Everdeen Mason
Staff Writers 8:27 PM Tuesday, December 20, 2011

SPRINGFIELD — Local unemployment rates have fallen an entire percentage point from October to November, following a statewide trend of improving employment. Just last week, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported this as the biggest monthly statewide percentage drop in unemployment since 1983.

Local economic development officials pointed to recent local job gains, such as from new employers Thirty One Gifts and CodeBlue, for the turnaround.

“Big job losses were at the turn of the century as we went into 2000,” said Mike McDorman, president and CEO of the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce. “That’s when we saw thousands of jobs leave Ohio and leave Springfield. We hit rock bottom and we’re starting to edge back up.”

Clark and Champaign county unemployment rates, like state unemployment rates, are at the lowest since December 2008.

Clark County is at 8 percent unemployment for November, down from 8.9 percent in October and 9.9 percent from a year ago.

In Champaign County, rates have fallen to 7.6 percent, down from 8.8 percent in October and 10.4 percent a year ago.

The Springfield metro area has an unemployment rate of 8.5 percent, down from 9.7 percent in October and 10.4 percent a year ago.

The state rate for November — 8.5 percent — was the lowest since December 2008 and below the national rate of 8.6 percent.

Ben Johnson, ODJFS spokesman, said that unemployment rates aren’t expected to drop so sharply each month and that in some months there might be slight increases as local economies recover and react to national and international developments.

As was the case at the state level, while hiring picked up, the labor force in local communities shrank as some discouraged workers left and weren’t counted when calculating the jobless rates.

The Springfield chamber’s third-quarter report shows that area businesses have committed to bringing almost 2,000 new jobs since January 2010, and have retained more than 2,200 jobs in town.

“You are seeing that net job effect improve and that’s why, in basically the last three to four years, we’ve been in the top communities of our size in the country in job gains,” McDorman said.

City Manager Jim Bodenmiller said various companies in town have recently hired.

“And it’s not seasonal hiring, but real, long-term jobs,” Bodenmiller said. “They are hiring new people or bringing people back who lost their jobs due to the bad economy.”

Bodenmiller said he is optimistic that the unemployment rate will continue to drop. Companies such as CodeBlue and Thirty One Gifts will continue to add jobs through next year to fulfill their job commitments to the city, he said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0371 or emason@coxohio.com.

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