The unemployment rate of Athens tends to be significantly lower than in surrounding counties solely because of the presence of a large, public university.
The Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services recently released the state’s unemployment rates for December 2012 in addition to the yearly averages. For December, Ohio had a 6.7 percent unemployment rate — about 388,000 people — which was slightly down from the 6.8 percent rate in November — about 391,000 people.
The number of unemployed people in Ohio decreased by almost 70,000 during the past 12 months, according to a news release from Benjamin Johnson, the department’s deputy director.
“Ohio has been below the national (unemployment) average of 7.8 percent for some time now,” Johnson said. “When you look at the numbers for job creation in Ohio the last 12 months, the state has added more than 90,000 jobs.”
In comparison to Morgan County (11.1 percent unemployment), Meigs County (10.9 percent unemployment), and Vinton County (10.1 percent unemployment), the presence of Ohio University has decreased the unemployment number in Athens County.
The overall average rate in Athens for 2012 was 7.9 percent. With a civilian labor force of 28,500, about 2,200 people were unemployed.
However, comparing Athens to other college counties would not correlate because of population differences, Johnson said. Franklin County, home of Ohio State University, has a large population in Columbus, so residents have more options for work, as opposed to Athens, where jobs are more limited.
“There has certainly been a lot of work in Columbus to make Ohio more job-friendly and to give Ohioans the skills they need to get back to work,” Johnson said. “We’ve been working with local communities to make sure that we’re training people with skills that are marketable.”
Though Ohio’s economy has improved this past year, Athens is a competitive jobs county, resulting in poverty among its citizens, said Nick Claussen, Community Relations Coordinator of the Athens County Jobs and Family Services.
“There are not enough full-time living jobs in our county and surrounding counties, and some people have problems getting jobs,” Claussen said. “I’d like to see more money put in helping people pay for college and job training programs and to get degrees. I hear from people all the time that want to go back to school but they can’t afford it.”
Since the number of unemployed Ohioans has decreased and Ohio’s economy has improved, the number of weeks an Ohioan can be on unemployment dropped to 54 weeks.
“No doubt there are Ohioans who have exhausted all their options, so we encourage them to visit OhioHereToHelp.com to learn about programs that will help them keep food on the table and stay in their house,” Johnson said. “It’s also a good sign though, because the amount of weeks dropping indicates that the unemployment rates in Ohio are decreasing.”
az346610@ohiou.edu
