Mahoning and Trumbull counties had the largest declines in the area.

Mahoning and Trumbull counties had the largest declines in the area.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The five-county Mahoning and Shenango valleys lost close to 20,000 of its population over a six-year period.
And the decline in the area will continue because of limited employment opportunities for younger, educated people, said Thomas Finnerty, associate director of Youngstown State University's Center for Urban and Regional Studies.
"To put it bluntly, it's all about jobs," he said. "We're not providing jobs to people. You need a job to stay in a place. There's [not enough] jobs for the educated work force. We educate people and then they leave."
There is some hope, Finnerty said.
"Small advances are realistic," he said. "Start-up, high-tech businesses that attract young, educated people are needed."
The area has seen some improvements in that field in recent years, but more needs to be done to stop the flight of residents from this area to others, Finnerty said.
5-county area
The five counties had a population of 809,020 on July 1, 2000. That number is down to 789,276 as of July 1, 2006, according to statistics released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
That's a 2.4 percent decline in population over that six-year period in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties in Ohio and Mercer and Lawrence counties in Pennsylvania.
Each county experienced population declines while Ohio saw a 1 percent increase and Pennsylvania had a 1.3 percent increase during the same time period. The United States' population increased by about 6 percent over those six years.
In this area, Trumbull County led the way in the decline, losing 3.4 percent of its population over the six years. The number of people calling Trumbull home is 7,630 less in 2006 than in 2000.
Mahoning's population declined by 2.4 percent, or 6,048 people, during the six-year period. The county lost 2,155 residents between July 1, 2005, and July 1, 2006, or 0.9 percent of its population. That's the largest decrease of the five counties in that one-year period.
Even with the consistent population declines, Mahoning and Trumbull remain Ohio's 10th- and 12th-most-populous counties.
More figures
The population declines in Columbiana and Mercer counties were slower than in Mahoning and Trumbull.
During the six-year period, both of the counties' populations declined by 1.4 percent. Columbiana's population decreased by only 94 people between 2005 and 2006, while Mercer lost 564 residents during that one-year span.
Lawrence County lost 3 percent of its population since 2000.
The Census Bureau's county population estimates are calculated using administrative records such as birth and death certificates as well as building permit data. The bureau receives updated and more accurate information each year, leading to typically minor changes to population estimates from previous years.
But there are instances when the original numbers are way off the mark. For example, the bureau released its estimated 2004 population count of Youngstown in June 2005 as 77,713. That number was updated in June 2006 to 83,906 residents.
The bureau didn't release populations of communities Wednesday, but plans to do so later this year.
skolnick@vindy.com