The United States unemployment rate for April was 6.3% down from 6.7% back in March. The April rate is a 1.2% decrease from last year, and it seems it has been steadily decreasing over the last 12 months. In Ohio we are doing a little bit better than the national average. Ohio’s unemployment rate was 5.7 % in April 2014, down from 6.1 % in March. Small businesses across our nation provide a great percent of the jobs created, and in Ohio small business provide more than half the jobs. Helping them succeed should be a top priority for the Ohio government, and providing them with resources and guidance can make a huge difference.
Read more about business in Ohio by following the links below.
Ohio Growth Summit seeks to unleash job-growing power of small businesses
Fully 99 percent of Ohio businesses have fewer than 100 employees – and though they’re small, they still provide 60 percent of the jobs.
The key to exponential job growth is for public-private partnerships to help micro-companies progress to the 10-99 employee stage, said Jerry Ross, executive director of the National Entrepreneur Center in Orlando, Florida.
“We are a small-business country,” said Ross, opening speaker of the Ohio Growth Summit entrepreneurial conference being held Wednesday and Thursday at Columbus State Community College.
“What we need to do as communities is say, ‘How do we get together to grow our small businesses?’ ” he said. “The leaders need to start talking to each other.”
Ross’s center combines the forces and expertise of 12 different economic development agencies under one roof, including the U.S. Commerce Department, the University of Central Florida’s Small Business Development Center and incubation program, the Orlando chapter of the Score business mentorship group and several minority business associations
SEA Change, a new Cleveland business accelerator, is looking for startups with heart: the Mix
CLEVELAND, Ohio–If you have an idea for a smartphone app or an Internet-based service that could conceivably scale to something big, and make people rich, there are several business groups in Northeast Ohio that might help you get started.
But what if your venture is intended mostly to solve a social problem or better the world? Good luck. There really has not been any place to take such a notion locally–until now.
This week, a group of entrepreneurship enthusiasts will introduce SEA Change, the region’s newest business accelerator and one that aims to add a new dimension to local innovation.
As a social enterprise accelerator, SEA Change will offer training, connections and capital to startups that have humanity at heart, organizers say. Noble ventures could partake of thousands in seed money.
More details will be revealed Friday, when SEA Change is launched at Shaker LaunchHouse, one of the collaborators behind it. And much will not be revealed because no one is quite sure how SEA Change will evolve.
Ohio Business Owner Sentenced For Lapsed Comp Coverage
Columbus, OH (WorkersCompensation.com) – A Ravenna (Portage County) business owner was ordered to pay $3,500 in connection with lapsed workers’ compensation coverage. Ronald G. Larlham pleaded guilty May 12 in Portage County Municipal Court to workers’ compensation fraud, a first-degree misdemeanor.
“Businesses in Ohio cannot operate with lapsed workers’ compensation coverage,” said Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Administrator/CEO Steve Buehrer. “The bureau makes good faith attempts to work with businesses to bring them into compliance, but if unsuccessful, we must take the issue to court to comply with state law and to protect the State Insurance Fund.”
The BWC’s compliance department referred the matter to the Special Investigations Department’s Employer Fraud Team (EFT) after Larlham continued to operate his business, RGS Automotive in Ravenna, with lapsed workers’ compensation coverage. He had failed to work with the compliance department to bring the company’s policy back into compliance. EFT agents then made numerous attempts to bring the company’s policy back into compliance. The case was referred to the Portage County Prosecutor’s Office.
