Ohio ranks 9th in U.S. in job losses

Turmoil in the auto industry slammed Dayton, Toledo and Youngstown areas hardest among state’s metro areas.

Ron Alvey Kim Henderson, a Dayton resident, looks at job postings Thursday, Sept. 2, at The Job Center in Dayton. Staff photo by Ron Alvey

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By William Hershey and Ken McCall, Staff Writers Updated 12:08 AM Monday, September 6, 2010

COLUMBUS — There’s more uncertainty than celebration today as Ohio and the rest of the country continue to work their way out of the Great Recession.

On the campaign trail, the nearly 400,000 jobs that Ohio has lost since Gov. Ted Strickland took office in 2007 has become the background music for mid-term elections dominated by a sputtering economy.

Republicans blame Democrats, including President Barack Obama, Strickland and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher.

Democrats blame former Republican President George W. Bush and Wall Street.

Peel back the rhetoric and one fact emerges on this Labor Day — Ohio is not alone. All but seven states experienced job losses between December 2006 and July 2010.

Ohio barely makes the top 10 in terms of percentage of jobs lost, in ninth place with a loss rate of 7 percent.

The top two job losers were Nevada, 13.3 percent, and Florida, 10.1 percent, states battered by the near collapse of the housing market.

Michigan was third at 9.8 percent, a clear indication that a decline in manufacturing, particularly the woes of the Detroit-based automakers, contributed to the national downturn.

That is apparent in Ohio.

The three Ohio metro areas with the highest percentage of job losses – Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, 10.9 percent, Toledo, 10.6 percent and Dayton, 9.2 percent – were impacted by the turmoil at GM and Chrysler, said economist Ned Hill of Cleveland State University.

The Dayton area is struggling to rebound from that turmoil, and so are people like Jaslyn Simon.

The 63-year-old Dayton resident lost his job as a special education teacher with Dayton Public Schools a year ago.

It’s tough finding a job when schools are laying off teachers and Dayton is suffering so economically, he said, taking a break from poring over a computer at the Montgomery County Job Center. But Simon doesn’t specifically blame Strickland.

“When he took over the state, like the rest of the country, was already beginning to get into a downward spiral,” Simon said. “I do not believe there is much he can do more than he’s already doing.”

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