By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Wood County’s unemployment rate has hit a record low. As of the latest figures available from December, the county’s jobless rate was 2.8%.
“That’s the official lowest on record,” Wood County Economic Development Commission Executive Director Wade Gottschalk reported Thursday to the county commissioners.
That rate compares to the national average of 3.7-3.8% – “which is still incredibly low,” Gottschalk said.
At the same time, Wood County’s economic development is experiencing the fastest growth since 1984.
“We have roared back,” Gottschalk said. “The economy here is doing really well.”
And wages are growing, which is good for area workers and for the county’s sales tax revenue, he told the county commissioners.
The loss of the Peloton plant in Troy Township, while a disappointment, isn’t expected to be a loss for long.
“They are already marketing it,” Gottschalk said of the 1 million square foot plant being constructed then to be sold by Peloton. “There’s already interest there.”
Peloton has promised to complete the exterior walls and roof of the plant, but it is uncertain whether the floor will be poured prior to sale, Gottschalk said.
“It’s on a fantastic site – with a building on it,” he said. “We’re getting a million square foot spec building out of it.”
“I’m fairly confident that building will get sold in a relatively fast manner,” he said.
Peloton’s decision to not open the production facility in Troy Township also leaves some unused neighboring acreage that can be marketed to another company, Gottschalk said.
Meanwhile, the glass-solar industry is booming in Wood County. First Solar’s latest expansion will create a 2 million square foot facility.
First Solar, with plants in Perrysburg Township and Lake Township, is the largest solar manufacturing campus in the U.S. Once the expansion is complete, the company’s sites in Wood County will be the largest solar campus in the world outside of China, Gottschalk said.
“It’s really a great success story. They are the world player in solar,” he said of First Solar. “They’ve been a great corporate citizen.”
NSG, which has been in Rossford for years, recently built a new plant in Troy Township, to supply the First Solar expansion.
“We’re still the glass capital of the world,” he said.
Developers are also eyeing other areas of Wood County. Development firms are marketing large areas near the CSX hub west of North Baltimore, the Ohio 582 area near Interstate 75, and open acreage in Rossford.
“There are multiple developers looking at the county,” Gottschalk said. “Almost every week we get a call from developers. It’s all over the county.”
As for the labor shortage, Wood County is experiencing the same issues as the rest of the nation.
“We’re at the same place everybody else is,” Gottschalk said after meeting with the commissioners. “Everyone’s going to be dealing with it for a while.”
Rising fuel prices are also being felt nationwide. But Gottschalk noted that the U.S. economy is more resilient than during previous gas crises.
“Plus we are likely to hit the all-time high for U.S. oil production” this year, he said.
