Miguel Lugo and Pete Accorti of Talan Products Inc.
By Lee Chilcote, The Land
Miguel Lugo had his first experiences in the manufacturing industry when he worked for Voss Aerospace in Ohio City, where his mom also worked, for one summer in high school. After graduating from James F. Rhodes High School in Old Brooklyn in 2001, the 38-year-old briefly worked at Auto Zone before landing a job as an entry-level laborer at Talan Products Inc., a metal stamping company in Collinwood.
Sixteen years later, he’s risen the company ranks at Talan from a lowly general laborer to plant and tool room manager – and he’s not done rising yet. This fall, Lugo hopes to begin taking classes for his Master’s in Business Administration (MBA). Despite the perception that manufacturing jobs offer little opportunity for advancement, Lugo says he’s making a good living. More…
By Daniel C. Vock, Ohio Capital Journal
Stu Nicholson has been trying for decades without success to get Amtrak — or any other passenger rail service — to come to Columbus, Ohio.
As director of All Aboard Ohio, a passenger rail advocacy group, Nicholson helped explore possibilities, like creating a new route from Chicago to Pittsburgh, with Columbus in the middle.
But for now, Columbus, a city with 878,000 people, the second-largest city in the Midwest, has no passenger rail service. It doesn’t even have a station. More…
By 1812Blockhouse
The resurgence of the economy as the pandemic eases has resulted in employment gains throughout Ohio, including here in north central Ohio.
In fact, Richland County had one of the biggest decreases in unemployment last month in the entire state.
Ohio’s unemployment rate was 4.7% in March, down from 5.0% in February. Ohio’s nonagricultural wage and salary employment increased 12,700 over the month, from a revised 5,302,200 in February to 5,314,900 in March 2021. The number of workers unemployed in Ohio in March was 272,000, down from 288,000 in February. The number of unemployed has decreased by 15,000 in the past 12 months from 287,000. More…
Economy, Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Unemployment
By 1812Blockhouse with information from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services
When unemployment numbers for Ohio counties were released this week, they reflected in a positive direction for Ohio in general and Richland County in particular.
Ohio’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.0% in February, down from 5.3% in January.
289,000 workers were unemployed in Ohio in February, down from 360,000 the month before. That noted, the number of unemployed Ohioans has increased by 10,000 in the last 12 months, suggesting that levels have basically reached pre-pandemic levels. More…
Economy, Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Unemployment
By 1812Blockhouse
The State of the University Address presented on Thursday by President Kristina M. Johnson of The Ohio State University, her first, included several important announcements.
Several dealt with various investments into research and researchers totaling some $750 million over the next ten years. This includes the physical improvements such as the Ohio State Innovation Center on the former West Campus, a $1.8 billion Wexner Hospital, and a just-opened science building on the Wooster campus.
Practically, however, the most transformative direction announced was the goal of providing a debt-free education to all OSU undergraduates over the next decade. This would make The Ohio State University the first to undertake such a monumental undertaking. More…
By 1812Blockhouse
The pandemic continues to have an impact in terms of employment in Richland and contiguous counties, but in different ways.
The unemployment rates continue to remain stable or actually fall locally, according to information released this week by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, but the sectors in which people are employed continues to shift. Richland County’s rate increased slightly — from November’s 5.5% to December’s 5.6%
Across Ohio, the trend was up in unemployment percentages, with over two-third of Ohio counties seeing increases. The highest rate was in Noble County is southeast Ohio, at 7.7%; the lowest was Holmes County at 2.7%. More…
By 1812Blockouse
Before you read this post, take a few moments and think of how you would answer this question:
How would you describe Richland County in one to three words?
Put another way, what few words capture the essence of this place, from culture to economy to opportunity?
Now consider whether any of the following 15 words or sets of words apply: More…
Economy, Featured, Richland County Life, Studies and Reports
By 1812Blockhouse
Social media was buzzing on Friday about an apparent Thursday announcement by Lifetouch concerning a planned February 4 closure of its Church Directories Division.
This closure, in turn, would lead to a reduction in employment at its Ontario and/or Galion locations, according to the announcement.
Founded just outside Galion in the 1960s, the Division was originally named United Church Directories, and was started by Nelson Jones and Del Bellew. In its heyday, the company created some 10,000 pictorial directories a year for churches across the country. More…
All About Richland, All Things Business
By 1812Blockhouse
Late last week, October’s county unemployment figures for Ohio were released by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services which showed that Ohio in general, and Richland County in particular, are holding steady with relatively low – and matching — rates.
Both the state and the county clocked in with a 5.2% rate in terms of non-seasonally adjusted numbers.
In Richland County, some 2,800 individuals were considered unemployed in October, based on a total available work force of 53,300 and 50,500 employed. More…
By Marty Schladen, Ohio Capital Journal
The fragile gains the poorest Ohioans made over the decade since the Great Recession have been wiped out by the coronavirus pandemic, a leading food bank official said Thursday. She added that if Congress doesn’t act soon to help that population, the situation will become much worse.
Thursday was national Hunger Action Day and Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Food Banks, said the facilities continue to see record demand.
“We’re just hearing from more people that what they thought was going to be a temporary layoff is now a permanent layoff,” she said, adding that for many Ohioans, that’s driving insecurities about food, housing and the ability to meet other basic needs. More…
By Marty Schladen, Ohio Capital Journal
It can be hard for those of us who are comfortable to see.
But a top Ohio food bank official issued a stark warning Wednesday: Hundreds of thousands of Ohioans already face food insecurity and if Congress doesn’t act soon, the pain might become impossible for the rest of Ohioans to ignore.
“I don’t think that by and large people realize that there is a very thin line between community and chaos,” said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Food Banks. “When you can’t feed yourself and you can’t feed your family and there’s no help or hope available, people are going to do what they have to.” More…
By 1812Blockhouse
Over the last twelve months, a number of divergent factors have combined to change the face of shopping in the city of Ontario, north central Ohio’s largest retail center.
In some cases, local stores and restaurants have fallen victim to chain-wide bankruptcies and closures; in others, there are signs of renewal, with some new faces joining the retail mix.
The so-called “retail apocalypse,” the closing of retailers facing dwindling sales in the face of the growth of ecommerce, has now been joined by the fact that many retailers were considered “nonessential” and therefore shuttered for weeks at the beginning of Ohio’s COVID-19 response. More…
By 1812Blockhouse
Another national chain is closing multiple locations in the midst of bankruptcy proceedings. One of those locations shutting its doors is at 663 Richland Mall.
Ascena, the New Jersey-based parent company of chains including Lane Bryant, Ann Taylor, and more, has announced closure of 1,600 of its 2,800 current stores. More…
(The Center Square)
Ohio concluded the 2020 fiscal year with General Revenue Fund tax revenues of $1.1 billion, or 4.6 percent, below estimates, a clear indication of the impact the COVID-19 restrictions have had on the state.
Tax revenues in June were $50.5 million, or 2.2 percent, below estimate. However, state officials noted that revenues were better than a month earlier when they were 13 percent below expectations.
To balance its budget, state officials implemented several cost-cutting measures, including reducing state agency budgets. State officials also shifted Medicaid expenses using the enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP), which Congress authorized with the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. More…
By: Maggie Prosser, Ohio Capital Journal
A survey released by the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that more than 500,000 Ohioans were unable to pay rent last month because of financial insecurity amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The bureau’s Household Pulse Survey studies COVID-19’s impact on social and economic factors like employment, finances, food insecurity, housing, health and schooling. The latest poll indicated 12 million Americas did not pay last month’s rent and nearly 7.5 million have no confidence they will be able to pay next month; in Ohio, more than 360,000 renters say they will be unable to pay next month. More…
