Job Losses to Hit Ohio

The State of Ohio will be losing more than 2,000 jobs in the near future.

According to an article by The Columbus Dispatch, seven companies that do business within the state have filed layoff notices. The companies will eliminate a total of 2,358 positions at plants in more than a dozen locations throughout the state by the middle of summer.

• Severstal Wheeling Inc. announced the biggest cut, as it plans to layoff more than 916 workers at plants in Steubenville, Mingo Junction, Yorkville and Martins Ferry.
• Colfor Manufacturing will layoff about 589 workers at plants in Salem, Minerva and Malvern.
• Sencorp will cut 300 positions in Cincinnati.
• Johnson Controls will eliminate 205 positions in Greenfield.
• Faurecia Exhaust Systems will cut 168 jobs in Troy.
• Shiloh Industries is planning to get rid of 111 jobs in Valley City.
• ArcelorMittal will see the loss of 69 jobs in Warren.

Not surprisingly, all of these companies serve the auto industry, which has been faced with mounting trouble as of late.

Concerns among the steel industry along the West Virginia border, where most of Severstal's losses will take place, are nothing new. At one point, Wheeling Pittsburgh Steel, the company's predecessor, had 15,000 employees in the county. However, there are currently only 2,000 employees and many of them will soon lose their jobs.

In March, Ohio had an unemployment rate of 9.7 percent, the highest since 1984. There are now 577,500 unemployed workers in Ohio, an increase of almost 200,000 from last year.

On the up side, Wildfire Motors in Steubenville currently employs 75 workers and plans to add 100 more positions. The difference - the company produces electric vehicles.