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Valley jobless rate points to a happier Thanksgiving
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Source: U.S. Department of Labor
By Karl Henkel
YOUNGSTOWN
A day before Thanksgiving, there’s at least one thing for which Mahoning Valley residents can be thankful: The unemployment rate continues to drop.
From October 2010 to October 2011, the tri-county area’s unemployment rate fell by 1.2 percentage points and now sits at 9.2 percent, according to statistics released Tuesday. It could get better thanks to a manufacturing jolt, analysts and industry professionals say.
Last October, the unemployment rate was 10.4 percent.
Statistically, last month stands as the best October for employment in the Valley since 2008, when the unemployment rate was 7.4 percent.
The area continues to be the only one of seven urban regions throughout the state to consistently show job growth.
There were 244,700 employed residents in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties in October; 24,700 qualified as unemployed.
The civilian labor force was 3,000 fewer than last October.
The U.S. Department of Labor defines the civilian labor force as people 16 and older who are working or looking for work. It excludes the military, students, volunteer workers and those in institutions, retired or unable to work.
A recent report from Team Northeast Ohio, a Cleveland-based nonprofit that tracks economic data for the region, said that manufacturing jobs have helped the Valley recover from the recent recession.
George Zeller, a Cleveland-based economist, agrees.
“Youngstown is the fastest-growing city in the state,” he said Tuesday. “And the reason for that is manufacturing.”
The proof is in the numbers.
Youngstown regularly has had the distinction of being the only Ohio metropolitan area to display job growth throughout the year.
Statistics from 2011’s first quarter were released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics this week and show Youngstown’s manufacturing jobs have grown by more than 12 percent compared to last year.
That’s twice as fast as the second-fastest-growing manufacturing region — Toledo.
The 2,993 new manufacturing jobs in the Valley during the first quarter hardly makes up for the job loss of the past decade, but Zeller said it’s a step in the right direction.
It could get even better, said some local manufacturers.
Dale Foerster, vice president of Starr Manufacturing Inc. in Youngstown, which produces industrial equipment and machinery, said skilled workers are in high demand for almost every manufacturing business.
“Most of the manufacturers have had to turn down some work because we don’t have enough skilled workers,” she said.
Foerster is a member of the Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition, a group of local businesses trying to educate the public about the needs of manufacturing jobs.
“Typical competitors are now joining forces to tackle the issue,” she said. “That’s how big the problem is.”