Butler County No. 1 in job loss for region

Jobs lost

The following are the number of layoffs reported to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services*:

2011

2010

HAMILTON — Butler County has lost nearly 1,300 jobs in the first six months of this year and about 3,500 jobs since 2009, according to county and state data.

No county in the region — including Montgomery, Preble, Warren, Clermont or Hamilton — has suffered more mass layoffs since July 2010 than Butler County, according to Workforce One of Butler County. And new job creation, so far this year, has failed to keep pace.

The result is a county with an unemployment rate of 8.5 percent — a number that could increase once previously announced layoffs actually take place. The job losses could also further impact the county’s budget, which has been battered by declining revenues and cuts in state funding.

Liz Claiborne officials dealt another blow this week when they announced  they would be closing their West Chester Twp. distribution center, which puts about 400 jobs at risk of leaving the county. They could join West Chester’s BAE Systems, which will lay off 125 employees in July, and FedEx, which laid off 222 workers, and MISA Metals in Middletown, which laid off 79 workers in May.

But Ohio Department of Development spokeswoman Katie Sabatino said, “It’s important to note that Liz Claiborne is not a done deal.”

“We’re actively in dialogue with them to see what can be done,” Sabatino said. “Even though that’s a potential situation, that has not come to fruition yet.”

Sabatino said she cannot comment on the conversations between the state and  Liz Claiborne officials, “but I do know we are reaching out to them.”

Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s administration is attempting to make Ohio, and thus Butler County, more business-friendly, said spokesman Rob Nichols.

“Ohio’s economy is in a deep, deep hole after being in years and years of neglect and decay and we’ve had some good wins so far,” Nichols said about retaining big businesses in other parts of the state. “It’s about making Ohio a place where existing businesses can stay. The competition among states around us with better business climates, lower tax rates and fewer regulatory morasses, it’s daunting.”

Brittany Bramell, spokeswoman for U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R-West Cheser Twp., said losing jobs is “a very difficult situation” and “serves a reminder that Washington needs to take action now to remove government barriers to job growth.”

Boehner stopped in Middletown on Tuesday, where he touted a Republican job creation plan that focused on reducing red tape for businesses.

“American job creators are being held back by the policies coming out of Washington,” Bramell said. “As Congressman Boehner discussed in Middletown, House Republicans’ plan for America’s job creators will help companies like Liz Claiborne by removing government barriers to growth and boosting confidence in our economy.”

Job losses

Though thousands of jobs have been lost in Butler County in the past three years, state and county officials say it’s difficult to say how many have been created. However, employment rates have been steady in the county for the past 14 months, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

The current estimated number of employed in the county is 172,100, which is 2,000 more than last year’s average.

The recently announced layoffs won’t affect the county’s unemployment figures until they happen, said Ohio Department of Job and Family Services spokesman Ben Johnson. The county’s unemployment rate has dropped by 2.2 percent since January 2010.

“It’s entirely possible that these mass layoffs events will impact the unemployment rate for Butler County,” Johnson said. “And just because there are lots of people being laid off does not necessarily mean there aren’t more people being hired.”

The unemployment rate for Butler County is currently 8.5 percent. It was 9.9 percent at the beginning of the year and 10.7 percent in January 2010. More people also are employed in Butler County, according to the Ohio JFS. In April, 172,100 people have held a job, which is 5,200 more than in January.

“We are heading in the right direction, but that doesn’t mean those announcements are acceptable,” Sabatino said about companies announcing layoffs. “Those announcements are very disappointing and those are the ways we are looking at the need to reform the way we do business in the state of Ohio to keep those types of announcements from happening, to prevent those.”

“American job creators are being held back by the policies coming out of Washington,” she said. “As Congressman Boehner discussed (Tuesday) in Middletown, House Republicans’ plan for America’s job creators will help companies like Liz Claiborne by removing government barriers to growth and boosting confidence in our economy.”

Business friendly

West Chester Twp. initially reported Liz Claiborne employed 600 people. Township spokeswoman Barb Wilson said Liz Claiborne officials reported to them in the fall they had 600 employees. Company spokeswoman Dana Stambaugh said, “The 600 number cited was a possible future number based on a variety of assumptions that will not be realized.”

But losing jobs, no matter the number, “is a shame,” said Butler County Department of Development Director Mike Juengling.

“We’re really not sure what the company has in mind, what their plans are. The only answer they could get from them is their business model is changing so they’ll be closing operations I a year from now. They’re starting the reductions in about six months.”

So how does the county make up hundreds of jobs lost in a year, and thousands in three years?

“We continue to try to locate other companies here,” Juengling said. “Work with the existing companies to help them expand and the WorkForce One (of Butler County) folks tries to help these individuals placed in jobs that are open.”

The county brings in jobs with the help from Ohio and the regional chambers of commerce.

“We get information back from their site selection consultants and hopefully the sites that we have here are what those companies are looking for,” Juengling said. But they also try to keep current businesses with incentives, abatements or other economic development tools that will allow businesses to grow and create jobs.

It’s also about being more proactive, Sabatino said.

“By being more nimble and having more flexibility and we’ll have a regional presence, we’re going to be able to create relationships with those companies so we are aware of things that are coming down the pike so we can be in better contact with them,” she said, saying the job losses underscores the need for JobsOhio, a private nonprofit entity to replace the Ohio Department of Development.

Juegnling said he hasn’t seen anything like what’s happening with companies moving jobs out of the county.

“You get a victory here and something like this comes along,” he said referring to the Liz Claiborne decision. “You can draw your own conclusions. This is very disappointing. One day you think you are recovering and the next day you think you’re not.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2175 or mpitman@coxohio.com.