UNION TWP., Ohio -- Bob Laake was stunned when his job of 19 years as mail production manager with the St. Anthony Messenger was eliminated in September.
"It's been very tough," said the Batavia man of the impact on his family.
"It's forcing us to really look at everything economically and make very wise decisions about where the money gets spent," he said.
Laake wound up getting unemployment benefits and is supplementing that by interning with Work Force One of Clermont County while he searched for a new job.
"There's not a lot of stuff out there," he said. "Everyone is saying fill applications out, [but] they're not accepting applications or you have to go electronically only."
He isn't alone. The U.S. unemployment rate dipped to 9.7% in January, but the rates for Greater Cincinnati are higher than that. Ohio is at 10.7%, Kentucky is at 10.4% and Indiana is at 9.9%.
Government estimates indicate as many as seven million jobs could permanently disappear in the recession.
That's putting a great deal of pressure on Work Force One of Clermont County because the county's jobless rate is 10.6%.
Cathy Sahlfeld, business service representative at Work Force One, says that two years ago the office saw 1,500 job seekers a month. Now, it's double that number.
Ironically, Sahlfeld first came to Work Force One when her own position with Cincinnati's American Airlines call center disappeared. She'd been with the company 29 years.
Many of the people she sees will have to retool their lives with additional schooling or training to find new work. And, it may be at a lower pay rate than before.
"The real hot jobs right now are green industry, the health profession and advanced manufacturing," said Sahlfeld. "Almost everybody needs to go back to school if they've been in the work force before to get that kind of employment. It's real specific."
Laake says he'd like to get back in management because he likes working with people. However, he's open to talking with any potential employer.
"Luckily, I've been forced to learn through the years and stay in touch with a lot of the new technology," he said. "So, I feel like I'm not on the cutting edge, but very close to it."
While Laake is keeping a positive outlook, Sahlfeld says it's hard for many of the unemployed not to get down.
Her son, a civil engineer with a PE designation, was out of work for nine months. Only recently he took a job laying blacktop for a paving company, hoping that it will lead to a full-time position.
"People are doing what they have to do make ends meet," she said.
She added that more jobs will be created when companies feel secure about tax structures, employee benefits and other economic issues.
