43
Valley’s unemployment rate up 1.7% in December
By Kalea Hall
YOUNGSTOWN
The December jobless rate for the Mahoning Valley jumped to 7.3 percent from 5.6 reported in December 2014.
The area has been hit with plant closure after plant closure lately, but that doesn’t mean the region’s economy is going downhill, economists say.
“The overall story here is one of steady improvement,” said Mekael Teshome, PNC Bank economist. The region’s economy “is soft, but resilient.”
The Valley’s jobless figures released Tuesday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services show an increase in the civilian labor force from 249,000 to 253,000. This increase, Teshome believes, is why the unemployment rate increased.
“It is for a statistical reason it went up – not an economical reason,” Teshome explained.
So, while the area has been hit with workforce cutbacks, especially in the energy sector, there has been growth, and more people are joining the workforce rather than leaving. From January through November 2015, employment in the Youngstown Metropolitan Statistical Area rose 1.2 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In December, the state reported 82,700 jobs were gained in 2015 compared with 79,700 the previous year.
Cleveland-based Economist George Zeller said he would like to see more economic stimulus from the government to get the economy moving at a faster pace.
“We should be concerned,” he said. “We need to stop slowing down the economy by cutting government spending. We are growing, but we are growing too slowly. The bottom line we is need to speed up the recovery.”
Recently, Valley residents were informed that the Warren Steel Holdings plant in Warren would close by the first quarter of this year. About 150 employees work at the plant.
Two local Kmart stores, one in Boardman and one in Warren, will shut down this April after decades of business at those locations. A total of 144 employees will be affected.
Before that, the Valley received the news in October that Parker Hannifin, where 137 are employed to manufacture hydraulic gear pumps, will close within 18 months.
Vallourec Star, a plant where steel pipe is made for fracking, has made several cutbacks to its workforce to a total of 168.
Exterran, another local plant in manufacturing for oil and gas, announced layoffs of 68 with an indefinite March closing of the plant.
The low cost of oil at $30 a barrel and below has led area plants that manufacture products for the oil and gas industry to cut back.
“Unfortunately, we are on a downward trend,” said Bert Cene, director of the Mahoning Columbiana Training Association.
Cene’s office fills requests from area employers in need of workers and also helps workers find work after they lose their jobs.
“We are hoping to weather this storm,” Cene said. “A year ago we were moving in the right direction.”
For the month, Mahoning County’s unemployment rate went up from 5.5 percent to 7.3 percent, and the civilian labor force went from 107,300 to 109,400. In Trumbull County, the rate went up 2 percent from 5.8 percent reported in December 2014 to 7.8 percent in December 2015. The civilian labor force jumped from 92,100 to 94,000.
In Columbiana County, the jobless rate went from 5.3 percent to 6.5 percent, and the civilian labor force increased from 49,400 to 49,800.
The entire Valley’s yearly unemployment rate average went from 6.7 percent in 2014 to 6.1 percent in 2015.
“I definitely think there’s been an overall rebound in the economy in your entire area and the unemployment rate has come down substantially,” said George Mokrzan, director of economics for Huntington Bank. “It still looks quite promising for the next year.”