Strickland Ties March Mass Layoffs to National Trends, Ohio to Lose $20 Million in Workforce Funds

ePluribus Media OhioNews Bureau

COLUMBUS, OHIO: On Wednesday, the same day smiles beamed like rays of sunshine from the faces of lawmakers who crowed at the rough and tumble, give and take process that eventually produced a new, sweeping energy bill that state leaders say will deliver thousands of new green-energy jobs as utilities and entrepreneurs take advantage of the advanced energy portions of the bill, monthly figures released for mass layoff actions (MLA) in March showed 52 events resulted in 6,236 Ohioans filing initial claims for unemployment insurance.

For the first three months of 2008, 165 MLEs produced 19,975 unemployed Ohioans, who may not be helped as much now that state officials have acknowledge the loss of these valuable worker funds.

STRICKLAND TIES MARCH MADNESS TO NATIONAL ECONOMY

The report, issued each month by the BLS, offers aggregate national figures based on industry and geographic distribution. Based on 1,571 MLAs nationwide that involved 157,156 employees, the report said layoff events and associated initial claimants were the highest for the month of March since 2003.

For a state dogged by big-time job loss over the decade and hamstrung by its inability to catch up to the number of jobs it had before the start of the last recession in 2001, these March Madness numbers represent another dose of painful reality that makes the jobs development packaged Governor Ted Strickland announced in his February State of the State speech and fine tuned with the help of legislative leaders even more of a call to arms.

Responding to the grim news contained in the report, Strickland’s director of communication, Keith Dailey, pinned the tail of Ohio’s job woes on the pattern and trends of the national economy.

“Currently, the state economy is facing a number of challenges as a result of the national economic downturn,” he said in a written response to questions from ePluribus Media OhioNews Bureau. “These layoff figures reiterate the need for swift action by the state legislature to enact the $1.57 billion bipartisan job stimulus plan to create new jobs and lay the foundation for future economic progress.” [Keith Dailey, Gov. Strickland]

Through a compromise reached recently between Strickland, the first Democratic governor in 16 years, and the Republican-led General Assembly over the size and source of funding for the job stimulus plan state leaders are banking on to create upwards of 80,000 jobs in the next five years, Dailey said Strickland believes the “state can and should take bold action with the limited available resources to stimulate the economy and reverse the tide of nearly 10 years of job loss.”

ODJFS GIRDS FOR RESCISSION TO FEDS OF $20.4 MILLION IN WIA FUNDS

The Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, which issues regular reports on jobless claims, was aware of the BLS MLE statistics, a spokesman said.

Dennis Evans, a spokesman for the agency, told ONB the latest data is consistent with patterns experienced for the 1st quarter of the past several years, and given the continued weakened labor market, not surprising. Evans provided historical data to make his point.

ODJFS makes several programs available to assist workers in finding jobs, Evans said, pointing out One Stop partners and the team work of Rapid Response, which helps impacted workers assess what additional skills or education they need to reenter the workforce as quickly as possible.

“In addition to unemployment compensation to provide short term financial assistance, state and local partners provide job matching assistance, job seeking training or, in some circumstances, actual training to pursue new careers in a field with greater demand for workers,” Evans said.

Information obtained by ePluribus Media OhioNews Bureau shows that ODJFS officials are now girding for the rescission (return of funds) of $20.4 million as part of the Federal Fiscal Year 2008 Federal budget that contained a number of rescissions and funding reductions for WIA.

In an April letter from the Office of Workforce Development at ODJFS to WIA board chairs, administrators and fiscal agents, Deputy Director Bruce Madson informed everyone that the “net impact of the three retroactive rescissions to prior year funding is $263.2 million nationally and $20.4 million for Ohio.”

For Ohio, March 2008 figures were higher than a year before (52 compared to 43). National BLS figures show the manufacturing sector accounted for 31 percent of all MLEs, with the highest totals coming from transportation equipment, followed by food manufacturing. Of the leading 10 industries reporting the highest number of MLEs, in descending order, they were school and employee bus transportation, food service contractors, temporary help and motion picture and video production.

Of the nation’s four census regions, the highest number of initial claims in March was seen in the Midwest, accounting or 34,885 lost jobs. The report said five states – California, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Illinois and Ohio, in that order – accounted for 51 percent of all MLEs and 42 percent of first-time claims for unemployment insurance.

Ohio was second to Pennsylvania in over-the-year increases in average weekly initial claims.

BLS information said the Mass Layoff Statistics program is a federal-state program that uses a standardized automated approach to identifying, describing, and tracking the effects of major job cutbacks, using data from each state’s unemployment insurance database. Each month, states report on employers which have at least 50 initial claims filed against them during a consecutive 5-week period. These employers then are contacted by the state agency to determine whether these separations lasted 31 days or longer, and, if so, other information concerning the layoff is collected. States report on layoffs lasting more than 1 month on a quarterly basis.

John Michael Spinell is a former Ohio Statehouse government and political reporter and business columnist. He now serves as the OhioNews Bureau Chief for ePluribus Media Journal.

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