Study: Gap in education plagues Valley

YOUNGSTOWN — President Barack Obama’s newly unveiled jobs plan includes extended unemployment benefits, payroll tax cuts and infrastructure development.

All could stimulate economic growth.

But there’s an underlying reason for the nation’s 9.1 percent unemployment rate: the education gap.

Mahoning Valley employers pointed out the problem last week. A new study released from the Brookings Institution details the magnitude of the Valley’s education woes.

From 2005 through 2009, the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman region had the seventh-highest education gap among the top 100 metropolitan areas, according to the Education, Demand and Unemployment in America report released today by Brookings.

Education gaps are defined as “shortage of educated workers relative to employer demand.”

The top 100 metros makes up about 75 percent of America’s population.

Just how bad did the Valley rank?

The education gap, determined by the years of education required to do the average job divided by the years of education attained by the average working-age person, was above 1.0 on Brookings’ scale, which signals “an insufficient supply of educated workers” relative to demand.

Youngstown wasn’t alone, however. Almost every other top 100 metro area in Ohio had scores above 1.0.

For the complete story, read Friday's Vindicator and Vindy.com