Eric on the Effect of Hollywood Gaming on the Local Economy

In this podcast, Eric discusses the presence of the Hollywood Gaming Casino in Dayton and how it has affected the local economy. He interviewed Mr. Chris Kershner, the Vice President of Public Policy and Economic Development for the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce. Eric learned a lot of valuable information from the expert he interviewed, and confirmed some of his inferences about the effects of Hollywood Gaming on Dayton’s economy.

Sources: News Article, BLS Data, BLS Spreadsheet, Chris Kershner Bio.

Jalen and Katie on Budget Cutting at Wright Patt Air Force Base

In this podcast we discuss the process of budget cutting at Wright Patt and how it affects the people in the work force. According to an article from the military website written on October 1, 2014 they are planning to cut 372 positions, 103 were occupied so 269 of them were vacant. Which lead to us conducting an interview with Vanessa Freeman, a Senior Manpower Analyst at Wright Patt Air Force Base who is one of the main people involved in budget cuts. Overall, majority of our questions were answered, but we still would like to know how it affects the larger work force.

Justin on the Relationship Between Large and Small Companies

In this podcast, Justin discusses how employment is affected by the funding of small businesses by large companies. He interviewed Eoghan Gregory, an engineer at a local engineering firm in the Dayton area in order to learn more about how small business spend their funding. During this research, Justin learned much about how small businesses are related to employment. He learned that small businesses are vital for regions to have high employment rates and boost employment within areas.

Nia and Tyson on Veterans in the Workforce

According to the BLS, as of 2013, roughly 722,000 total veterans were left unemployed. That is 6.6 percent of the labor force. 47.9 percent of the population was employed. According to another statistic, also provided by the BLS, veterans with less than a high school diploma have a higher unemployment rate than veterans with higher degree at 10.3 percent being unemployed in the labor force where those with associates degrees are at 7.3 percent and bachelor's degree or higher at 4.4 percent. These statistics show that higher education will provide more job opportunities. We interviewed Dr. Seth Gordon, director of the Veteran and Military Center at Wright State University. Dr. Gordon has a history working with veterans and with helping students obtain skills and higher education. During the interview, Dr. Gordon was given the opportunity to explain what the center is about and how it relates to jobs for veterans and military personnel. The interview can be found here.

En and Niky on Military Training for After Retirement

In this podcast, we talk about what may happen in military training that would prepare you for the workforce after retirement. We talk to retired vet, Cpt. Mitchell, about how he plans to find a job, and how the military has made him able to do so.  We interviewed him because he has been in the military for 19 years before retiring and has been looking for a job since.  We found a article about veteran employment at this Biz Journals website.  We also looked on this BLS page for information about veterans from many different wars that were employed.