Jobless rate moving down

Joblessness in Jay County appears to finally be deflating back to normal levels.
That return trip, however, may take another two to three years, predicts Jay County Development Corporation Executive Director Bill Bradley.
“We’ve got the lowest unemployment rate in east central and northeast Indiana,” Bradley said. “I’d like to get it down to that period of about 5 percent. If things can progress, we can see that in maybe two to three years.”
Although the rate is beginning to slowly level back out to “full employment,” which is considered by economists to be the natural or acceptable level of unemployment, the ride has taken a toll on many county workers along the way.
When the unemployment rate took off upward in fall 2008, it moved quickly. Joblessness in the county about doubled in a span of eight months when it hit its high point of 12.1 percent from May to July 2009.
That number was the record high for this recession, although it’s not the worst Jay County has ever experienced. Rates flirted with 20 percent during the hard-hitting recession of the early 1980s.
That crippling recession more than 25 years ago served as a wake up call for the county and greater efforts in economic development were made. JCDC celebrated its 25th year in 2010, and the role the organization has played in developing the county actually helped weaken the effects of this current recession compared to other counties in this area of the state.
Bradley often hails the county’s diversity of its industries as one reason why unemploymentwas not as high as neighboring counties such as Blackford and Adams, which have boasted some of the highest unemployment rates in the state during the past two years.
“That diversity we have in the county; we don’t have our eggs in any one basket,” Bradley said. “Whether it’s Hartzell Fan, whether it’s Jay Products, to some extent what we’ve seen at Alphabet, F.C.C. … we’ve been able to weather this better than most.”
When a national recession sets in, Bradley said the hardest hit industries are usually manufacturers.
“Where we had the challenge I think 12, 18 months ago, was in our cyclical employers,” Bradley said. “Those are the ones hit most hard in a recession period. You’re talking about your major durable goods, whether it be auto related, agri-business related …”
While those types of job losses can severely cripple counties that are heavily manufacturing, such as Adams County which was rocked by job losses at motor-home manufacturer and major employer Fleetwood, Jay County’s diversity helped keep jobless rates from spiraling out of control.
“The good thing is we’ve had other industries like Saint-Gobain in Dunkirk and Tyson (in Portland) that are in a position to weather a recession period because they’re beverage and food,” Bradley said. “That has helped balance us out.”
Since that highpoint in the May-July period of 2009, the county unemployment rate has been moving down, but much more slowly than it took on the way up.
It took only seven months to go from about 6 percent to 12 percent, but took 12 months to deflate to 9 percent. The current numbers (see Section A for a story covering newly-released October 2010 rates) were aided by a quick drop of about 1 percent during August and September this year to 8.1 percent.
The county may also be aided in the coming year by development projects that have taken wing throughout 2010. JCDC has helped facilitate some startups and expansions that likely have already and will continue to add new jobs.
The local economy in late 2008 and 2009 experienced several job some closings of companies including International Paper and Mars Petcare as well as layoffs at major employers like F.C.C. and Portland Forge. In 2010, however, the major economic news has been of business expansion and job creation.
In December, the Portland City Council approved use of $150,000 in Economic Development Income Tax funds to help bring Geesaman Industries, a Wisconsin-based metal polishing company to Portland, potentially creating 50 to 100 jobs. Although that project stalled during 2010, owned Steve Geesaman is reportedly still interested in Jay County and currently looking at new locations in the county.
In April, F.C.C. received a tax abatement for equipment to add a new product line at its Portland facility. The $6.43 million investment wouldn’t create any new jobs but helped to retain more than 400 employees.
In May, Tyson Mexican Original received a tax abatement on equipment for a new baked corn tortilla line that would add 27 jobs.
In June, Gibson Home Improvement, Muncie, announced it would purchase an old foundry building on Ind. 67 east of Redkey for warehousing and a pallet manufacturing line that would create 30 jobs in the next three years.
In September, Fort Recovery Construction and Equipment announced an expansion to its facility to manufacture solar collector components that the company said will create at least 40 jobs in the next three years. The Portland City Council and Jay County Council approved used of EDIT dollars in a grant/loan package to aid that expansion.
In October, Portland City and Jay County councils approved use of EDIT funds to support MyFarms, a Web application startup owned by rural Bryant resident Chris Fennig that should create 20 jobs in the next three years.
This month, Portland and Jay County councils approved use of EDIT funds to help bring in an expansion of Fort Recovery Industries to the Portland Industrial Park that will create at least 20 jobs by the end of 2011.
And if that wasn’t enough yet, Bradley hinted that another company may be announcing in the next four to six weeks that it will locate its headquarters within Portland.
“We’ve got a pipeline right now of different potential projects,” Bradley said. “They may come to fruition, they may not come to fruition. … I’m optimistic.”
The interest may leave the county with the good-to-have problem of developing industrial ground in the future.
“We should be out of buildings, which is a good thing which is also a challenging thing,” Bradley said of the county if the projects he has in the works pan out. “One of things we’re going to be looking at is how we might creatively come up with ideas on how to do a (speculation) building, if that’s something we want to do again.
“That’s one of the issues we’re going to have,” he said. “Where do we want to go with our next expansions of industrial development geographically.”
Recent development efforts have received an outstanding level of cooperation from local government, Bradley said, but also noted that moves made by the state government have helped make Indiana easier to market for business development than other Midwest states.
“Indiana has a healthy overall economy, a healthy fiscal picture as especially compared to our neighboring states,” he said, noting that Indiana has tried to keep cash reserves and not deficit spend. “Those cuts we’ve had to make have been painful … but overall we’ve been able to hold our head above water during this recession period. … Our state has been positioned well.”
He noted that due to moves made by the state, its been easier for developers across the state to attract businesses from areas like Michigan and Ohio, which have been facing more critical financial issues at the state level than Indiana.
Bradley said, however, that those states may see some changes after the recent election that could make the fight for those businesses a bit more “feisty.”
And although the state has widened definition of allowable use of EDIT money to a point where it can be used to cover almost any expense a county may face, Bradley hailed the efforts of local government in the county to reserve those funds for economic development.
“I think the use at the local level, the use of EDIT dollars as incentives, has been a good use,” he said. “Jay County has been steadfast in using those EDIT dollars.”
In the future the county may also be aided by the installation of fiber-optic data transmission lines, an issue which has been discussed and will likely be implemented and available for business and other users. Jay County Hospital will be one of the first locations to obtain fiber-optic capabilities that will help transmit large amount of data to other hospitals and elsewhere quickly.
“A community that’s wired with fiber-optics is ahead of other places with similar size in the nation,” Bradley said. “There are communities out there that are still in the dial-up world. … That’s one of the assets companies look for. That’s why you have the growth in areas like around Indianapolis
“That’s a real step up for a small rural county,” he said. “We’re only 22,000 in population but to have those kind of assets.”
Bradley noted that while fiber-optic can be a bargaining chip for incoming businesses, it’s something that could aid current branch plants like F.C.C., Tyson or Portland Forge, in having better communication capabilities.
The county can also look forward to wind farm development in southern Jay County projected for 2012. American Electric Power has investigated southern Jay and northern Randolph counties for several years and Bradley said as far as he knows the plans for that wind energy development are still a go.
That project will add to the county’s tax base but could also bring more jobs in areas like road construction and drainage installation to accommodate the massive turbines.
But it will take more than just bringing new projects to the county to solidify the local economy and unfortunately those issues will have to be tackled on a national scene.
“Now I think we’ve got some things at the federal level we need to look at,” Bradley said. “(Businesses) want to know the economy is stable. … We’ve got some systemic challenges with the economy, the macro-economy, such as our relationship eventually with China.”
Although economist declared earlier this year that the recession officially ended in June 2009, the effects of it will still likely be felt for a few more years going forward.
Bradley said one goal of his is to see Jay County’s unemployment mirror the counties surrounding Indianapolis’ Marion County such as Hamilton County (Noblesville, Carmel, Fishers), which has had and still retains one of the state’s lowest unemployment rates.
“If we got down in the next year to say, 7.2, 7.1 (percent) in that area that would be a very good advance,” Bradley said of his hopes for 2011.
“It would be in the right direction. There’s some systemic issues with the national economy that will be there, we can’t necessarily compensate for that.”[[In-content Ad]]