The federal government didn’t give a reason why Ohio saw a dropoff of nearly 2,800 people making first-time unemployment claims. But Ben Johnson with the state Department of Job and Family Services says at least part of the drop came because claims were elavated by seasonal layoffs by school districts and auto manufacturers.

“Now in this week, as we see those automobile manufacturers come back to work, we saw the claims come back down to a normal level,” Johnson says.

Nationwide numbers are more recent and show first-time unemployment applications ticked down by 1,000 last week.

Applications have topped 400,000 for 12 straight weeks.

It’s right around lunchtime and the Aladdin Shrine Temple on Stelzer Road is teeming with people toting brief cases and business binders filled with resumes and business cards. Men and women of all ages with different levels of experience and education are filling out applications and talking with potential employers. Nicole Lehmann is an upbeat 22-year-old who’s hoping to get a job in human resources. Lehmann graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Capital University last May and is currently in graduate school. But she still needs a paycheck.

“I was looking for something that wasn’t sales (laughter) because that’s what’s I’ve always done. So, just something working with people, more of a career, more like 9 to 5, no odd hours,” she said.

But like many people out of work, Lehmann may have to take what she can get. For Michael Pritsel that means moving.

“I had to leave the state of Ohio. I’ve lived in Westerville for 41 years. I hate to, my parents don’t want to see me go, but I gotta go where I gotta go. And it’s just, my kids are getting tired of Dad not working, and not having enough to do what we need to do,” he said.

Pritsel, who’s 41 years old, was laid off 18 months ago. Even though he’s moving to Tennessee to take a job as a fire chief this summer he still needs work to make ends meet in the meantime. Pritsel said trying to find a job has been a living hell and he wonders a little if his age has kept him from being hired.

“Get an interview and then they fill a position or they’re not hiring for that position anymore. Or they decide they’re not going to do anything else, they’ve put a hiring freeze on. That’s why I’m planning on moving,” Pritsel said. Despite being laid off, the people interviewed, for the most part, had a positive attitude about looking for work even if their outlook on getting a job was less optimistic. Anthony Gay is 22-years-old. He was laid off in November from a call center, but he said he has experience in customer service and sales.

“Sometimes to me it’s mostly hard at the end of the year trying to find a job because most jobs are filled and looking to be filled by then. But, you know, now it’s January and I feel like there’s more opportunities now, jobs are opening for us. And I’m out here trying to get a job. Any interviews yet? No, but I have had strong leads. I’ve had people say they’re going to call me back by tomorrow so I’ll wait until then and see what’s going to happen,” Gay said.

Between Lehmann, Pritsel and Gay, 48-year-old Cathie Price has been out of work the least amount of time: one month. Price said she’s moving back to the Columbus area from Virginia. The last three weeks, she said, have been hectic with numerous job fairs and two interviews…with no call backs.

“I’m optimistic. I’m always positive. You know, waiting for something better. Didn’t get that something better’s going to come along,” Price said. Eleven-hundred people were expected to attend the job fair on Stelzer Road. Ohio’s unemployment is higher than the national average. The Columbus-area has fared slightly better.

Reynoldsburg resident Paul Bailey says the job market, “pretty much sucks. I mean I’ve gone to these job fairs and a lot of the times I’ve put in applications, I’ve gone online. I haven’t heard anything.”

For 15 years Bailey worked as a correctional officer in Virginia. In 2009, he joined the National Guard and later was deployed to Iraq. While he was overseas his wife and four children moved to Ohio. He joined them when he returned, but work in Ohio has been difficult to find.

“I’ve been to Iraq four different times, mainly because it’s easier to get deployed than it is to get a job here,” Bailey says.

Bailey says the National Guard has helped him and his family through the recession.

“I mean they brought me out of a lot of debt that normally I would have accumulated if I was just sitting here,” Bailey says.

At the job fair, Bailey has lots of company. A statistic from the United States Department of Labor shows Ohio’s unemployment rate is the highest it’s been since 1984.

Bexley resident Myesha Pugh graduated from Ohio State two years ago. She says in the past year she’s applied for 90 jobs.

“It’s kind of hard to find the job that you want, as far as what you had actually majored in. You oftentimes settle for whatever’s out there and it’s kind of hard for you to get into that actual field,” Pugh says.

And the number of people looking for work outweighs the number of available jobs. Marsha Oliveri is the general manager of Job News. She put together the fair, and says fewer businesses are attending.

“Five years ago, four years ago, we had sixty companies on average attending events. Now we see typically 30 to 40 companies recruiting,” Oliveri says.

Oliveri says there are 300 openings at the job fair. That means fewer than half of the people who attend could end up with a job. Paul Bailey is discouraged.

“To be honest with you, I don’t expect to get anything. I’m just doing this and hoping for the best,” Bailey says.

As Bailey goes back to his applications, dozens of people walk around him eager to find employment. One thing all these people have in common common is their similar, frustrating story of their time spent searching for work.

Jen Monroe, WOSU News.

There was a time when Mansfield was a wealthy city; its economy buoyed by heavy manufacturing. That was in the 1960s. Mansfield Chamber of Commerce President Kevin Nestor says back then:

“Mansfield had the 3rd highest per capita income of any city in the United States between 25,000 and 50,000 in population.”

The reminders of that era remain. The dominant structure near Mansfield’s downtown is the old Westinghouse factory. It spreads over several city blocks. But it’s sagging, its metal sides rusting, windows are broken or empty. It symbolizes lost jobs and lost paychecks.

“Today we’re below the average per capita income for Ohio and Ohio is below the national per capita income,” says the Chambers Kevin Nestor.

In recent decades, companies like Westinghouse that had made Mansfield an industrial powerhouse began a slow exodus. It was a story that was playing out across the region. 40 years ago half of Mansfield’s jobs were in manufacturing; now less than a quarter of them are.

“So yes we have seen a decline and again that’s one of those changes that’s not affecting just us but we’ve been hard hit,” Nestor says.

Mansfield suffered its latest blow when it got word that General Motors was shutting down. The massive parts stamping plant had operated in the neighboring city of Ontario since the mid 1950s. Paul Williams, an electrician at the plant for 40 years, recalls the day that the closing was announced.

“They shut everything down. We all went over to a big staging area. There was a lot of disbelief looks and I don’t believe they actually believed what they heard,” Williams said.

In spite of pleas from Gov. Ted Strickland and Sen. Sherrod Brown, GM’s decision was final. The Ontario plant halted production in February, putting 600 people out of work. Now Paul Williams is one of only a hundred or so employees remaining. They’re only there to pack up the plant’s equipment and ship it to other GM facilities.

“It’s depressing when I go in there and I look at this building becoming a huge empty space. By June or July mostly everything that’s going to be out of there will be tore down and set off to the side ready to be shipped,” Williams says.

Some of the employees like Williams were old enough to retire from GM. Others had the option of taking buyouts that the company offered. Still others were able to transfer to other GM facilities. But the closure of the plant has had a trickle down effect on the local economy. Khyme Thomas felt the loss at her job.

“I used to work for a food restaurant out that way so that affects us too, if they’re closed a lot of other places end up closing too because we get a lot of our business from GM. But now, it’s like dead out there. Sad to say but it is. We feel it,” Thomas says.

The office of the Richland County Job and Family Services feels it, too. The county’s unemployment stands at 13.5 percent. And demand for services has been rising. Lori Bedson helps direct the Richland County Job and Family Services office. She says 20,000 people in the county now receive food stamps. That’s a 30 percent increase just in the past year.

“We have felt a strain,” Bedson says. “We’ve had to revamp or redesign the way we operate. As a result of I’m sure General Motors and the ripple effect that that’s had on the community with smaller businesses that were tied to General Motors.”

Local charities are also dealing with increased demand. Major Markus Jugenheimer heads the Mansfield Salvation Army. He says the resources of his organization have been strained as more and more families ask for assistance. For example Jugenheimer says Food Pantry assistance has increased 30 percent during each of the past two years.

“Through the Salvation Army food pantry program in Mansfield last year we served over 87,000 meals to families in need. We also provided 293 families assistance with their utility bills, and 88 families’ assistance with rent,” Jugenheimer says.

At the Richland County Job and Family Services Office, there’s a center that’s been helping about 150 people a day look for work. Jason McManes runs the OneStop Employment and Training Center where the unemployed have access to copy, scanner and fax machines as well as computer stations specially set up to help them find jobs.

“You can see it’s a typical computer station,” McManes says. “Each station has a phone, a phone book; each computer is loaded with resume maker software, basic Office, Word, Excel. They all have internet access. We have staff here on site to help write resumes and critique resumes. Everything here is at no cost to individuals as long as it’s employment or training related.” For now, area officials are hoping that they can find a buyer for the GM plant and that the site will return to manufacturing.

Resume writing, job search and interviewing strategies, and help with social networking internet sites: These are just a few of the training programs libraries offered to unemployed workers during Job Help Day. Steve Hipes manages the Columbus Metropolitan Libraries Job Help Centers.

“Anything to highlight awareness of We’re here to help’ and that there are other agencies out there that we can connect you with – because that’s one of the things libraries are good at: connecting people with information and with services and help,” says Hipes.

Seven local library systems have banded together to bring Central Ohioans additional resources for getting back into the workforce. Human resources professionals, career coaches, computer and social media experts all held workshop at library branches. This was the second time the libraries held a Job Help day. The first, back in September, drew 1,000 people to 28 different libraries.

40-year-old Billy Dillon attended the resume workshop at the Westerville Library. Dillon’s job of 14 years was eliminated more than a year ago, and he says a lot has changed since he last looked for a job.

“Everything is done online – people now don’t really see a face, see a first impression, and it’s not disheartening but it boggles my mind,” says Dillon.

Steve Hipes says Job Help Day is a great resource, but it isn’t the only time to get help at a local library.

“We do job help just about every day of every week, until we get through this really tough time,” says Hipes.

The libraries plan another Job Help Day in September.

Sadie Taylor, WOSU News.

“Are you looking for a fulltime management position? Fulltime or parttime “

Job seekers handed over their resumes at a job fair on the OSU campus. More than a dozen representatives of companies in sales, service and education talked with potential employees about job opportunities. Insurance agent Grant Margraff with Physicians Mutual Insurance says his company conducts background checks through an on line service to find out if someone committed any crimes.

“The company would find that out and in the state of Ohio, felonies or that kind of thing prevents a person from getting a license to sell insurance and not only would it prevent them from getting a license to be appointed with us we would probably find that out as well and decline them from becoming a part of our team,” Margraff said.

Gary Dill, a representative with New Horizons a computer training school says his company also digs into the backgrounds of a potential worker.

“We have a background check that we do. We use a background check company to make sure there’s nothing outstanding you know in their background,” Dill said.

Job seeker 26 year old Brian Coffman thinks background checks are a good idea.

“They don’t want people that are not trustworthy or what not to work for them so I guess that’s why I agree I wouldn’t want nobody not trustworthy to work for me,” Coffman said.

Regional supervisor of Burger King, Donnie Smith says all applications are handled online where they are assessed and investigated.

“We’re a cash business, you know you can look at it any other way our job is to turn burgers and fries into cash and what that happens we definitely as a security measure just to your team and yourself and even your guests occasionally it is a security measure that we need to take place,” Smith said.

However, Smith says having a criminal record does not necessarily bar you from getting a job at Burger King.

“I mean everyone is in a right to a second chance. Some things regarding you know some certain type of felonies you have a less likely chance to bring on than others,” said Smith.

Smith says those decisions are made by corporate headquarters.

Temp worker 36 year old Nichole Jackson hopes that job applicants are honest on their resumes.

“Well it would certainly make me feel uncomfortable depending on what they got in trouble for especially. But, yeah I would think that type of thing would need to be disclosed,” Jackson said.

After one year of unemployment, 33 year old Aishia Johnson is frustrated that she may be competing with people who lie on their job applications. But, she believes those who pay their debt to society for wrongdoing should have another chance.

“Just because they made a mistake in life should not disqualify them because they may be highly qualified for a job just as I am, but we need to take in consideration and at least do our due diligence and know the facts behind it,” Johnson said.

Facts that some employers says mean the difference between a job or longer unemployment.

At a job fair last week at Columbus’s Huntington Park hundreds of people were looking for work. Doyle Schoenberger says he’s been out of a job for about 20 weeks. He’s not receiving unemployment benefits, he says, which is tough.

“I didn’t have a recession-proof job,” Schoenberger says. “The job goes and so do you – no benefits, no unemployment, nothing.”

It’s easier for Jacinta Gaynor who receives unemployment compensation. She says she has a degree in philosophy, is a certified social worker and has also driven a truck for a living

“I haven’t quite decided what I want to do yet,” Gaynor says. “I can always fall back on social work, and I’m kicking around the idea of going back into driving and right now for the first time in my life I’m on unemployment so that’s come in handy while I’m in the middle of this transition.”

But what happens when unemployment benefits run out? Hundreds of thousands of Ohioans face that eventuality unless they find other jobs. Julie Smith works for the Department of Job and Family Services. Smith says the focus of her work is changing. The department still provides unemployment compensation but there’s a move toward to retraining the worker.

“It used to be viewed that unemployment compensation was about the check,” Smith says. “But when you fall on times such as we’re in now, that unemployment check is not enough and not long enough to cover the potential weeks and months and year that folks are being unemployed. So we’re starting to see this shift toward more career enhancement type possibilities and retraining possibilities and reemployment.”

State-funded unemployment centers around Ohio try to steer the unemployed toward careers where there is the most demand.

“The high growth industries are certainly the medical field; some service related industry, high growth; green jobs are obviously indicated,” Smith says.

Ohio has what it calls one-stop shops for the unemployed that teach resume preparation, job search and basic interviewing techniques, and software skills. But for more advanced training, the state often refers an unemployed person to a community college or other educational program or institution. Nancy Case is Columbus State Community College’s Transitional Workforce director.

“This is our annex where we do our dirty lab; where we do the dry walling, some of the carpentry where there’s a lot of sawdust and dust, and the students really get their hands-on experience of what they’re learning in the classroom,” Case says.

But the enrollment in Columbus State’s Orientation to Trades and Apprenticeships program -is small and only a small minority of those are laid off workers. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services’ Julie Smith:

“We see a disappointingly low number of folks who actually access the training opportunities that are available,” she says. “Training and reeducation is a scary notion to have to go back and retrain.”

But in the 16-county area that surrounds Wilmington the need to find new employment is acute. As many as 8,000 people have already lost their jobs at the Wilmington Air Park. Another 4,000 may eventually end up in unemployment lines.

“A couple of years ago if somebody would have said that we’d be here talking about the departure of all the jobs from the air park we’d of thought we were nuts,” says Keith Hyde. “In today’s job market anything is possible. So it’s a good thing to have as many skills and be as flexible as you can in your career because you never know when something might change.”

Keith Hyde is Director of Workforce Services Unlimited, a non profit corporation that’s helping unemployed workers in the Wilmington area find new jobs. He says federal and state money has been allocated for retraining workers. And counselors help point interested people in the right direction.

“We’ve got a cap for tuition and support of $21,000 a person: $15,000 for tuition, books and fees and $6,000 for other kinds of things,” Hyde says.

Hyde says former air park employees are enrolled in 30 to 40 different training opportunities from Columbus to Cincinnati and some have even gone out-of-state.

A Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. spokesman says the company is laying off 480 people across the country, the latest round of job cuts by the Columbus-based corporation.

Nationwide spokesman Eric Hardgrove says the layoffs, which include about 150 positions in central Ohio, were announced and took effect on Friday. He says affected employees will receive an additional 60 days of pay in their severance packages.

Nationwide has eliminated about 3,000 jobs nationally over the past two years. The insurance giant lost $342 million last year as the industry dealt with claims from an unusually high number of hurricanes and a sharp drop in investment returns.

Hardgrove says the company has about 35,000 employees, including about 11,000 in central Ohio.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)