Shrinking Valley work force aids in cutting jobless rate

January 25, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Mahoning Valley unemployment ended 2011 mathematically much better than it ended 2010.

The unemployment rate dropped from 10.5 percent to 8.5 percent.

But 22,700 area residents remain without work, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, and the area’s civilian labor force shrunk by 4,000 compared with the end of last year.

“The reason the unemployment rate is going down is not at all good news,” said Cleveland-based economist George Zeller. “Things are actually a little worse.”

The civilian labor force is now 266,000; it was 280,000 in 2008.

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.

At the end of 2010, 28,400 Valley residents could not find employment.

Zeller also said the Valley’s December unemployment rate was likely skewed by the on-again, off-again work structure of the General Motors Co.’s Lordstown plant.

A supplier problem caused a one-week work stoppage that began Dec. 12. A weeklong holiday break started Dec. 23.

Zeller said that based on anticipated new jobs in 2012, the Valley could begin adding new jobs.

The Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber is touting this year a possible manufacturing resurgence for the Valley.

“It’s definitely a driving force,” said Tom Humphries, president and CEO of the chamber.

V&M Star’s $650 million steel tubular products mill will begin operations in April and will create about 350 jobs.

TMK IPSCO is creating 120 jobs at its new local pipe-threading mill in Brookfield.

JMC Steel Group’s Wheatland Tube is investing $11.4 million to increase its steel tubular products production capacity and create 20 jobs.

All three are examples of shale-related manufacturing additions.

“I think in Youngstown’s case ... it is a model for the rest of the state. This is how you get a recovery,” Zeller said.

The area’s 8.5-percent unemployment rate is the lowest year-end rate since 2007. That year, the Valley had an unemployment rate of 6.5 percent.

“It’s been slow and steady,” Humphries said. “But I think we’re showing progress.”

Columbiana County’s unemployment rate fell from 11.2 percent in December 2010 to 8.8 percent this past December. The Mahoning County rate dropped from 10.2 percent to 8.3 percent.

Trumbull County’s rate softened from 10.7 percent to 8.6 percent.

Ohio’s December unemployment rate was 8.1 percent; the nationwide rate was 8.5 percent.