Has Unemployment Gone Down in Ohio? A Time Series Map

As 2011 nears to a close, a question that has come up is whether or not unemployment has gone down in the state of Ohio during the 2011 year.  Statistics show that at the start of the year, the unemployment rate for Ohio was at 9.3% in January, for the month of the October, the unemployment rate for Ohio is 9%.  Between January and October, the unemployment rate has slowly gone down.  However, the unemployment rate has experienced a rollercoaster ride between the first ten months ranging from 9.3% in January to 8.6% in April and May.  Although the national unemployment rate is released on the first Friday of the month, each states’ employment rates are not released until several weeks later.  The October numbers were released by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services on November 18th.

In order to show ten months of unemployment records for the state of Ohio, Three Scale employed an animated Time Series maps using ArcGIS and freeware PhotoScape.  A timeline on the bottom shows each month corresponding to the unemployment rate for the state of Ohio during that month.  Our inspiration in creating a time series maps was from Washington D.C. journalist and blogger LaToya Egwuekwe (Link) who created a map showing the unemployment rates across the United States at the beginning of the recession and afterwards from January 2007 to April 2011. Her animated time series map is currently hosted on her blog.

The three highest counties with unemployment are Pike County with 15.4%, Meigs County with 13.9% and Clinton County with 13.5%.  Pike County has recently suffered job losses with the closing of Masco Cabinetry in Waverly in November of 2010 and the Department of Energy holding up a $2 billion loan guarantee for the USEC plant in Piketon since 2009.  Meigs County, located in Southeastern Appalachian Ohio, suffers for a lack of job opportunities and has a population of 23,000. Clinton County is still reeling for the closure of the DHL Cargo Hub in Wilmington back in late 2008.  The three counties with the lowest unemployment are Delaware County, Mercer County and Holmes County.  Delaware County is a part of the Columbus Metro Area and thousands commute into Franklin County for employment.  Mercer County enjoys employment from several manufacturing firms, easy access to transportation routes, and a population of approximately 40,000.  Holmes County has a large Amish population that is relegated to agriculture, tourism, and light manufacturing.

Our findings indicate that unemployment in Ohio is slowly declining during the first ten months of 2011.  Most counties in Ohio are now closely aligned to the average unemployment rate for Ohio than in previous months.  The increased frequency of job announcements over the last several months compared to the announcement of job losses in the news foretell that economic growth is slowly but surely on the way up in Ohio and the risk for a double dip recession is gradually decreasing.

Sources

1. Egwuekwe, LaToya. “The Decline: The Geography of a Recession”. A Compilation of My Work and Thoughts. April 8,   2011. < http://latoyaegwuekwe.wordpress.com/2011/04/08/the-decline-the-geography-of-a-recession/>.

2. Driehaus, Bob. “DHL Cuts 9,500 Jobs in U.S., and an Ohio Town Takes the Brunt”. The New York Times. November 10, 2008. <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/business/11dhl.html>.

3. Associated Press. “2 Ohio Cabinetry Plants Threatened With Closure”. Businessweek. April 28, 2010. <http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9FC6HNG1.htm>.

4. Staff Wire Reports. “Pending USEC, DOE Pact Could Forestall Layoffs”.  Chillicothe Gazette. November 2, 2011. < http://www.chillicothegazette.com/article/20111102/NEWS01/111020304>.