Tuesday, November 25, 2014
YOUNGSTOWN
Although Mahoning Valley’s unemployment rate is at 4.9 percent, economists said the recovery is still
ongoing.
Valley unemployment decreased by 2.8 percent in October compared with last year, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Mahoning, Columbiana and Trumbull counties had a combined seasonally unadjusted jobless rate of 4.9 percent this October. Last October the rate was at 7.7 percent.
The unemployment rate for Ohio was 5.3 percent in October, down from 7.4 percent last year.
Usually full employment is associated with an unemployment rate between 5 and 5.5 percent. However, Mekael Teshome, a PNC Bank economist, said that’s not the case.
“No, we’re not back to full employment,” he said.
Teshome said people were dropping out of the labor force and that Valley jobs are still not at pre-recession levels.
“We are finally recovering from the recession,” said George Zeller, a Cleveland-based economist.
However, Zeller said
recovery in Ohio and the Valley was at a pace below the national average for two years.
Read more about the employment situation in the Valley in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.