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Valley unemployment rate increased in May
YOUNGSTOWN
Combined unemployment in the Mahoning Valley crawled upward last month as the labor force here shrank, more people looked for work and the number of employed dropped by 2,200 from a year earlier.
But the data, released by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services on Tuesday, was questioned by local economists and others who refused to discount broader gains and upward trends in both the statewide economy and here in the Valley.
“How can [Ohio] be No. 1 in job gains last month and have no movement in the unemployment rate?” said Cleveland-based economist George Zeller. “I wouldn’t worry too much about those small upticks in unemployment — both the statewide and local numbers for last month are very questionable.”
Ohio added the most jobs in the nation last month, with 32,100, but the state’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7 percent.
Compared with May 2012, the Valley’s jobless rate ticked up by half a percentage point last month to finish at 7.7 percent. At the same time, the civilian labor force shrank by 1,000 workers and the number of unemployed increased by 1,300 in the region.
The numbers are not seasonally adjusted, and ODJFS, like other states, relies on a national population survey conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to extrapolate both the local and statewide unemployment rates. Relying on a small representative sample from Ohio, included in the bureau’s survey, Zeller said, creates a fair amount of uncertainty in the numbers on a month-to-month basis.
Jolien A. Helsel, an economics professor at Youngstown State University, agreed, saying the numbers are “guesstimates” at best.
A better indication of the Valley’s economy is in its new claims for unemployment benefits filed with ODJFS each week, Zeller said. When those figures were released last Thursday, for the third week of June, the Youngstown-Warren region boasted the lowest amount of claims in the state with only 533, leading Ohio’s seven urban regions with the only favorable job-growth level. Claims in Columbus, the leading urban region for unemployment claims last week, were 1,244.
When ODJFS released statewide unemployment figures last week, gains were made across nearly all job sectors, but a particular bright spot was in manufacturing, where the state added 800 jobs.
Zeller said oil and gas, the automotive industry and even specialized steel have helped the Valley’s payroll in the last two years.
Vic Ing, president of Alliance Solutions Group of the Mahoning Valley, which provides staffing services across nine industries, including health care, manufacturing and technology, agreed.
“The manufacturing sector in the Mahoning Valley is booming. There’s heavy demand for entry level and skilled labor,” Ing said. “The economy is doing so well right now that people are willing to leave their existing jobs to take other ones. That’s a big signal that I haven’t seen for a long time.”
According to ODJFS, both Columbiana and Mahoning counties had an unemployment rate of 7.7 percent, an increase of less than a percentage point in both places. Trumbull County’s jobless rate was 7.6 percent, up from 7 percent at the same time last year.
In a new Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday, which surveyed 941 registered Ohio voters, Gov. John Kasich’s approval rating increased from 52 percent in April to 54 percent.
A steady job market appeared to help Kasich’s rating, with 52 percent of those surveyed approving of how he’s handled the economy.