Here’s how Mahoning Valley residents can participate in workforce needs survey
What are some of the struggles you’ve faced as an employee keeping a good jobs?
How can local organizations and businesses address local workforce needs and support workers?
Residents in the Mahoning Valley are being asked to share their experiences about working and living in the area through a community needs assessment.
It’s an online survey from Youngstown Area Goodwill and the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber.
They’re teaming up for a better understanding of the challenges workers and families are facing in Youngstown and surrounding counties.
The organizations want to hear about ”current and future employment demands and barriers faced by residents to prepare the workforce and foster a vibrant, economically strong community by identifying key areas for workforce development.”
“We are hopeful that this initiative will help pinpoint employment and training barriers so that we can create a community-wide action plan to overcome them. That will enable us and our partners to grow the local workforce and ultimately strengthen the economic fabric of Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania,” said Guy Coviello, president and CEO of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber.
Complete the survey any time through Aug. 9.
All the responses stay anonymous.
Demographics
The two organizations provided data from the Census and Department of Labor showing the poverty levels and available labor force for the Mahoning Valley.
The data includes workers in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties, as well as Pennsylvania’s Mercer and Lawrence counties.
The poverty rate in the Mahoning Valley “outpaces that in Ohio and U.S.”
The annual average salary is $12,733 a year lower in the Mahoning Valley than elsewhere in Ohio
The annual average salary is $21,302 lower in the Mahoning Valley than the rest of the U.S.
Only 57% of the 343,870-member local civilian labor force hold jobs
In Ohio and nationwide, the labor force participation rate is more than 63%, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey data for 2018-2022 analyzed by Goodwill Industries.
Over 37% of Mahoning Valley residents between ages 25- 64 ended their formal education with a high school diploma.
Support our journalists with a tax-deductible donation
Sign up for our Mahoning Matters newsletter
