The 2013 unemployment rate in Athens County is approximately 9 percent, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
To mitigate the problem, The Work Station, a government-operated service in The Plains, offers free training courses to help the unemployed find new jobs.
Since opening its doors in 1999, the unemployment rate has continued to rise, but Joe McGowan, director of The Work Station, said that the increased unemployment rate could not be attributed to The Work Station.
“We measure (success) by number of people graduating from our programs,” McGowan said.
In an average year, about 70 adults graduate from The Work Station’s GED program. This number has stayed fairly consistent in the past, but the number of Work Station participants finding jobs has nearly doubled.
The station is part of the Athens County Job and Family Services and includes programs ranging from veterans programs to GED programs, said Nick Claussen, community relations coordinator for Athens County Jobs and Family Services.
“With our economy, The Work Station is very important,” Claussen said. “People here want to work. It shows we have a lot of working poor people who are working trying to support themselves.”
Athens County Commissioner Charlie Adkins said the station thrives on both state and federal government funding and that without The Work Station’s services, many people would continue to struggle to find jobs and support their families.
“In this day and age, if you don’t have a diploma or a GED, it just gets that much harder to land any kind of employment. …Hats off to the people who learn and the workers out there,” Adkins said.
The Work Station serves residents of Meigs and Perry counties as well as Athens, and every county in the state has access to a “one-stop” service center, a center for different employment services, Claussen said.
Each center is also known as Ohio Means Jobs, which is the state’s website that allows people to search for jobs in their area online and employers to search for potential hires.
“I encourage people to try it out regardless of (educational) background,” Claussen said. “The Work Station is a great resource to get skills they need.”
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@KellyPFisher
