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Unemployment figures mix of good and bad
YOUNGSTOWN
The Mahoning Valley’s unemployment situation is better than much of the rest of the state, but the overall economic picture remains mixed.
The issue is that despite job gains, there has been a decrease in the size of the workforce, said George Zeller, a Cleveland-based economist. A shrinking workforce is a bad sign for the economy, he added.
“There is job growth occurring, but we still have not recovered from the Great Recession in 2007,” he said.
The recovery also can be viewed by the number of people making unemployment claims in the area, which is down compared with the rest of the state, Zeller said.
“Part of the issue is cuts made to the government sector, which has slowed down the economic recovery,” he said.
The Valley unemployment rates for June rose compared with May, but they remain far below the rates from a year ago.
There are 16,400 people classified as unemployed in the Valley with a rate of 6.3 percent, compared with 22,200 unemployed and an 8.4 percent unemployment rate in June 2013, according to Ohio Labor Market Information figures provided by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Typically, there is an increase in the unemployment rate between May and June.
Overall, the unemployment rate in Ohio remained unchanged at 5.5 percent in June.
Mahoning County’s unemployment rate fell from 8.6 percent in June 2013 to 6.2 percent this year. In Trumbull County, the jobless rate went from 8.4 percent to 6.5 percent, and Columbiana County dropped from 8.3 percent to 6.2 percent.
The drop in the unemployment rate did come with an increase in jobs the Valley — 2,400 — but the area also saw the workforce reduced by 3,000 people.
The federal and state governments have made decisions that are hurting job growth, Zeller said. They have cut their budgets, resulting in the loss of government jobs.
Statewide, there is job growth, but it can’t be called robust, said Zach Schiller, research director for Policy Matters Ohio.
“In the last 12 months, the state has added 50,000 jobs,” he said.
In the 1990s, however, the state was adding 100,000 jobs per year, Schiller said.
The job growth is just not enough to get the state back to where it was before 2007, Schiller said.
The situation in the Valley is similar to what is occurring statewide, Zeller said. The state job-growth rates also remain below the national average, he added.
Both Schiller and Zeller said not all of the workforce reduction is due to discouraged people who have quit looking for jobs. There are also some people who would have retired.
“However, most of them [retirees] would be discouraged workers,” Zeller said.