Chamber Touts Rise in Total Jobs, Brookings Report
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Despite November’s slight increase in the unemployment rate, the total number of jobs in the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman Metropolitan Statistical Area continued to rise that month, the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber reported.
The unemployment rate for the metro area edged slightly upward to 7.4% in November from 7.3% the month before, but was still an improvement over the 8.1% reported for the metro area in November 2011. However, the number of jobs in the metro area rose in November with 228,000 jobs, up from 227,600 in October 2012 and up from 224,200 in November 2011.
“Overall, 2012 turned about to be a pretty good year for the economy in the Valley, and we have reason to believe it will continue in 2013,” said Tom Humphries, president and CEO of the Regional Chamber. Trumbull and Mahoning counties as well as the cities of Youngstown and Warren have registered "impressive" jobless rate declines during the last year with Youngstown’s 18% decrease (1.9 points) leading the way, he said.
Humphries pointed out that while employment in the metro area dropped by 1,300 from October to November of this year, total employment is still up by 4,200 compared to November 2011, a 1.7% increase.
Sectors registering job gains included:
- Trade, transportation and utilities, up 3.4% from October and 4.7% from November 2011.
- Manufacturing, up 1% month to month and 3.7% from a year ago.
- Education and health services, up 0.7% from October and 2.5% from last year.
Professional and business services fell from both October and a year ago while the number of government jobs saw a slight decline from October and 1.3% drop from a year ago.
The Brookings Institution, in its quarterly Metro Monitor report, confirms the area’s continuing economic recovery, Humphries noted. The report showed that the Youngstown-Warren area ranked 22nd out of the largest 100 U.S. metro areas for rate of economic recovery. Brookings compared economic conditions in 2012’s third quarter with the peak of the recession in 2009. In Ohio, Youngstown-Warren had the second best showing of the state’s metro areas behind Toledo, which ranked 18th.
Youngstown-Warren also ranked fourth in the nation in the percentage drop in the unemployment rate since 2009, 4.9%, according to Brookings.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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