New round of layoffs threaten economic growth

Man, 68, drowns at Caesar Creek Lake
5/26/12
Water rescues prompt warning from health officials
5/25/12
Beach Waterpark sued for failure to deliver
5/25/12
Raleigh Trammell’s defense opens in felony trial
5/25/12
UD to move satellite campus to Dublin
5/25/12
> More headlines

By Randy Tucker, Staff Writer Updated 2:52 PM Wednesday, August 3, 2011

At a time when unemployment is creeping up in Ohio and across the country, a recent surge in layoffs threatens to further impede an already faltering jobs recovery.

Major employers including Cisco, Lockheed Martin, Research in Motion and Borders have each announced job cuts in recent weeks affecting more than 25,000 workers nationwide.

Local firms have contributed to the sweeping cuts, including Miamisburg’s Kurz-Kasch, a specialty manufacturer and technology company that recently laid off more than 50 employees.

Meanwhile, governments are also beginning to ramp up layoffs as widespread budget cuts begin to take hold.

State and local governments are forecast to shed up to 110,000 jobs in the third quarter this year, which would be the first time more than 100,000 government jobs were cut in a single quarter, according to a recent report from IHS Global Insight.

Keith Davis of Kettering was part of the June wave of layoffs that displaced more than 1,800 Ohio workers, up 22 percent from May.

“After a 15-year career working for the state, I never expected this,’’ said Davis, 43, who was laid off from his job as a police officer for the Montgomery Developmental Center, a Huber Heights care facility for the mentally disabled. “I left a job in Columbus working for the Department of Developmental Disabilities to be closer to my family. Now, me and my family are devastated.”

Last month’s layoff announcements were on pace to surpass the more than 41,000 layoffs announced in June by government and private employers, which was up about 12 percent from the previous month, based on figures compiled by Chicago-based placement firm and labor market tracker, Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.

“The private sector has pulled back a bit lately after coming out of the recession and creating jobs, and there’s no question that government is going to be a real drag on the jobs economy,” said CEO John Challenger.

The rise in layoffs is one reason the economy could muster only a meager gain of 18,000 jobs in June, while unemployment inched up to 9.2 percent nationally and 8.8 percent in Ohio, Challenger said.

The most recent layoffs haven’t shown up yet in weekly jobless claims.

In fact, the number of new claims for unemployment benefits actually showed some improvement in the week ending July 23, falling by 28,000 from the previous week to 398,000.

It was the first time in 15 months that U.S. jobless claims fell below the 400,000 mark, which most analysts consider the threshold for a healthy labor market.

But those numbers can be misleading, said George Zeller, a Cleveland-based economist who tracks weekly jobless claims in Ohio.

Zeller notes that the four-week moving average for U.S. jobless claims — considered the best measure of labor trends — is still above 400,000.

And the most recent weekly figure of more than 12,000 new jobless claims filed in Ohio also reflects slower than normal job growth, he said.

“We’re trying to get a vigorous recovery going, and there’s still no sign of that,” Zeller said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2437 or rtucker@DaytonDaily News.com.

Share this article