Many problems plague Ohio, but one of the biggest concerns is unemployment. Since our country entered a recession in 2009, many Americans have lost their jobs and most have not been able to recover. In December 2013, the country's national unemployment rate was 6.7%, the lowest level in more than five years. With Ohio having a population of 11,536,504, an unemployment rate of 6.5% is unacceptable. Ohio's unemployment rate has been steadily declining over the past year, which may give us hope that it is improving. With businesses closing or being laid off due to low demand for work, Ohioans have struggled to find work. Ohio farmers have had an even harder time keeping their farms going while so many citizens are out of work and have so little money to spend on produce. Is there a solution to help Ohioans return to work? Even if there is no solution, there must be a way to create jobs in the state, maintain unemployment benefits until Ohioans can find jobs and d 'bring a sense of relief to so many hard workers who just want to make ends meet. meet and support their families. In his 2014 State of the Union address, President Obama said unemployment was a persistent problem and called on the private sector to help give a chance(?) to those considered unemployed to long lasting. When citizens are unemployed for an extended period of time, they tend to be less likely to be job candidates. Managers and CEOs view these people as if they simply don't want to work, not as if they simply haven't been able to find a job. After the president's speech, many large companies stepped up and started hiring people who had been unemployed since... middle of paper ...... Unemployed. " Capitol Ideas 57.2 (2014): 30-31. Academic research completed. Web. April 8, 2014Aliprantis, Dionissi, Kyle Fee, and Nelson Oliver. “Is a Neighborhood's Unemployment Rate Influenced by its Economic Trends?” 12 . Academic Research Completed. April 8, 2014. Fichtenbaum, Rudy. “Unemployment Rate Trends and Cycles in Ohio.” Growth and Change 15.1 (1984): 50. Compensation Overview. Congressional Digest 93.2 (2014): 4-32. Academic research completed. Web. April 8, 2014Aliprantis, Dionissi and Nelson Oliver. “Differences in Job Growth Across Metropolitan Areas.” Economic Trends (07482922) (2013): 5-7. Academic research completed. Web April 8, 2014 “Economic Trends”. Internet. April 8. 2014.