At first blush, the latest unemployment data for the Mahoning Valley hits like a ton of bricks.

The report last week from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reveals that joblessness in the Mahoning Valley bounced disturbingly high between the end of 2025 and the start of 2026. Unemployment in January for Mahoning County rose to 6.5% from 4.8.% in December; in Trumbull County, the rate climbed even higher to 7.0%. Worse, unemployment in the city of Youngstown jumped to 8.5% and in Warren, the rate leapfrogged to 9.4%. Those latter rates reflect the highest levels among the state’s urban counties as well as double or more than double the state and national averages of 4.3% for the same month.

In real numbers, those percentages translate to a loss of 3,400 jobs and livelihoods in the two counties in the span of one short month. Continuation on such a dramatic downward spiral clearly is unacceptable.

After all, Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties have made some significant gains in recent years toward stabilizing and growing the local economy and its workforce.

As such, we remain reasonably confident the slump in employment recorded early this year is but a temporary blip. Nonetheless, local governments, economic development agencies and workforce training centers throughout the region should double down to do all possible build maximum momentum to retain and create as many jobs as humanly possible in coming weeks and months.

Yet in taking a closer look into those distressing jobless numbers for January, ample evidence suggests they represent more of a temporary downtown than the start of a long-term trend.

First, a healthy chunk of those job losses represent typical annual downturns at the start of the year. Jobless rates commonly rise in January due to a sharp pullback in hiring following the temporary holiday-hiring season as well as layoffs common with annual revenue adjustments of companies large and small at the start of a new year.

Second, the January data includes the shock furloughs of 1,300 workers in one fell swoop at the Ultium Cells factory in Lordstown, the plant that had been until then the Valley’s largest private employer. Those mass layoffs represented the largest set of job losses from one company in the Mahoning Valley in many years. We remain hopeful, however, that most — if not all — of those layoffs will be temporary once the electric vehicle industry in this nation recovers from a series of devastating setbacks last year.

Finally, one month’s somewhat quirky erratic slide cannot wash away five or more years of robust economic development growth in the region that the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber has logged. The U.S. Economic Development Administration also has noted the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman metro area continues to log progress in transitioning from a Rust Belt center to a technology, advanced manufacturing and technological hub.

Looming on the horizon, for example, are economic development engines in the form of Kimberly-Clark’s massive $800 million production plant, Foxconn’s growth as an AI center, Vallourec expansion, Youngstown Business Incubator diversification, Youngstown Innovation Hub for Aerospace and Defense launching and others that will supply the Valley with thousands of new jobs in the relatively short term.

Despite those and other positive signals, the disturbing jobs report from last week proves just how fickle and unpredictable the trajectory for local economic movement can take. That’s why those dismal — albeit likely temporary — numbers should catalyze all major stakeholders in job retention and business attractions to move into high gear.

That should be no daunting task as the Mahoning Valley is blessed with a wide and diverse network of economic development entities that have worked together cooperatively and productively in recent years to set our region on a new path of 21st century expansion. Among them are the Regional Chamber as well as Lake to River Economic Development, JobsOhio, Eastgate Regional Council of Governments and others.

Workforce development centers such as county career centers and Youngstown State’s state-of-the art Excellence Training Center must continue to succeed in filling the gap between job openings and people to fill those openings but in need of skills training in robotics, advanced manufacturing, automation, traditional skilled trades and other vocations.

In addition, initiatives such as that of the Regional Chamber to stem the high tide of outmigration from the Valley of viable young workers must continue and strengthen.

Such actions not only will ensure our region reverses recent job losses but will also build a larger labor pool to better cushion any future short-term blows to the Valley’s long-term economic vitality.