The Economist - USA (2022-03-12)

26 United States The EconomistMarch 12th 2022

Its steel mills never returned to full capac­

ity  after  the  second  world  war,  and  most

were demolished by the 1980s (memorial­

ised in a ballad by Bruce Springsteen). Gen­

eral Motors remained a big employer at its

plant in Lordstown, a short drive away, but

over time it cut back shifts, finally selling

up  in  2019.  With  each  passing  year,

Youngstown’s population shrinks.

Post-post-industrial

Physical  scars  from  the  decline  are  every­

where,  in  abandoned  homes  and  a  hol­

lowed­out  downtown.  About  38%  of  the

population  lives  below  the  poverty  line,

making  it  the  second­poorest  city  by  that

metric in America. Its crime rate is nearly

double the national average.

Yet  perhaps  the  most  striking  sight  on

the streets of Youngstown these days is not

urban  decay  but  white  trucks  with  the

word “revitalize” stamped in large black

letters  on  their  sides.  They  are  Mr  Benis­

ton’s fleet. In 2009 he helped establish the

Youngstown  Neighbourhood  Develop­

ment  Corporation,  with  a  mission  to  im­

prove the city, from cleaning up streets to

renovating  homes.  “It’s  about  letting  peo­

ple see that their quality of life is increas­

ing in a tangible way, so that they can un­

derstand that there is progress,” he says.

The novel use of land­banking in Ohio

has been crucial to this progress. In 2009,

during the subprime­mortgage crisis, Ohio

introduced a law to allow counties such as

Mahoning,  which  includes  Youngstown,

to  clean  up  urban  blight.  Within  months,

the Mahoning County Land Bank can seize

abandoned  homes  for  demolition  or  sell

them to an organisation like Mr Beniston’s.

A  survey  of  Youngstown  in  2008  counted

about 5,000 abandoned homes. Today, the

number is down to 750 or so.

The razing of dilapidated homes is not

just  about  beautification.  It  is  also  an  at­

tempt by Youngstown to find its right size,

so that the population can stabilise. There

are signs that it may be reaching this point.

House  prices  in  Youngstown  are  rising

steeply  for  the  first  time  in  years,  though

are still about a quarter of what they are in

Buckeye. And for the first time in decades

the local labour market is tight. The unem­

ployment  rate  in  the  greater  Youngstown

area was 4.3% in December, nearly two per­

centage points lower than its average dur­

ing the three years before the pandemic.

Manufacturing  is,  at  last,  returning  to

the  region.  Youngstown’s  industrial  heri­

tage,  long  a  millstone  around  its  neck,  is

increasingly an asset. Given the downward

spiral  in  America’s  relationship  with  Chi­

na, companies are looking closer to home

for  at  least  some  of  their  advanced  opera­

tions. While places like Buckeye may offer

more open space, Youngstown still has the

backbone and sinews needed for factories:

large,  existing  industrial  sites,  plus  river

networks and rail lines for transportation.

Soon after closing its auto plant in 2019,

gm teamed  up  with lg,  a  South  Korean

company,  to  create  Ultium  Cells,  an  elec­

tric­battery  manufacturer,  basing  it  in  a

new  factory  just  two  miles  away.  Produc­

tion is slated to start this summer, employ­

ing  about  1,000  people.  That  is  a  far  cry

from  the  13,000  who  worked  at  the  gm

plant in its heyday, but it may just be a first

step. Foxconn, the world’s biggest contract

manufacturer of electronics, has agreed in

principle to buy the originalgmplant and

reconfigure it as a production facility for

electric vehicles. Lordstown Motors, a

struggling electric­truck startup, is already

making prototypes there. Mahoning, once

known as America’s steel valley, wants to

rebrand itself as voltage valley.

The question that hangs over Youngs­

town’s development is its population

drain. It is hard to find the skilled labour

needed to make a success of voltage valley.

“It sounds good, but are we ready for it?

How are we preparing the next genera­

tion?” asks Jamael Tito Brown, Youngs­

town’s mayor. Some are trying. When Ulti­

um was short on qualified workers,

Youngstown State University created a test

to  identify  candidates  who  could  train  to

operate its sophisticated machinery. Local

businesses  also  launched  the  Mahoning

Valley Manufacturers Coalition, with twin

goals of selling people on careers in indus­

try and providing them with basic training.

“We  have  a  waiting  list  of  manufacturers

who  want  to  hire  out  of  the  programme,”

says Jessica Borza, head of the coalition.

Heartlands, old and new

Buckeye and Youngstown are just two cit­

ies  out  of  roughly  800  in  America  with

populations of more than 50,000. Yet they

are  emblematic  of  the  divergent  growth

trajectories  between  ascendant  states  in

the south and west and the post­industrial

north. Between 2010 and 2020, the popula­

tion  of  Arizona  grew  by  12%,  whereas

Ohio’s rose by just 2%. That, however, may

indicate  the  beginnings  of  convergence:

over the previous four decades, the popu­

lation­growth  gap  had  been  far  bigger

(135% versus 7%). 

It  is  not  a  winner­takes­all  competi­

tion. Both can do well. The south may have

the sun and space. But the north has water

and industrial heft, which after years of ne­

glect count for something again.n

Changing places

United States

Source: Census Bureau *Cities with populations of 60,000 or more

Population, ’000

200

150

100

50

0

20200080601940

Buckeye

Youngstown

0 10 20 30 40

Poverty rate, %

Major cities*, 201 Median household income, $’

200

150

100

50

0

Youngstown, Ohio

Buckeye, Arizona

Youngstown, the pride of voltage valley