The City of Mansfield was the nation's No. 5 city in job losses over the last year, according to a website citing figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For October, the number of jobs declined from 50,576 the previous year to 49,399, a 2.33 percent loss.Most cities showed an increased number of jobs over the past year, but 75 metro areas showed net losses in total employment, according to a report by the website 24/7 Wall Street, 247wallst.com.No other Ohio city was among the top five highest in job losses.The Lafayette, Louisiana, area had the most job loss, with employment falling by 4.5 percent, according to 24/7 Wall Street, which published a story on cities losing jobs Wednesday. That city's losses were followed by Casper, Wyoming, down 3.77 percent; Houma-Thibodaux, Louisiana, down 3.74 percent; and Shreveport-Bossier City, Louisiana, down 2.35 percent.24/7 Wall Street blamed heavy reliance on a single sector — manufacturing — and a low number of adults with at least a bachelor's degree (just 14.4 percent) for Mansfield's job losses.But Mansfield Mayor Tim Theaker said he highly doubts those numbers."Personally, I thought there are a lot of jobs out there. I don't know where they got those statistics from," the mayor said. "Something is wrong with those numbers. There's no way there's 1,200 jobs that left Mansfield," he said.Theaker said he can think of no local company, except for Ideal Electric, that shed a significant number of jobs. "That's the only plant that would have been affected," he said. "There are a lot of places that are hiring."In talking with economic development officials and state Rep. Mark Romanchuk (owner of a manufacturing company), Theaker said he has been hearing that there's a lot of jobs out there that people aren't filling.Preliminary BLS numbers showed the sectors with the highest job losses for the year in Mansfield were professional and business services, down 10.9 percent; and financial activities, down 6.7 percent.Two sectors showed gains: mining, logging and construction, up 4.3 percent; and government, up 3.8 percent. Employment in leisure and hospitality showed no change from October 2015.Job losses in other sectors in Mansfield included manufacturing, down 1 percent over the year; trade, transportation and utilities, down 2 percent; education and health services, down 1.2 percent; and "other" services, down 4.5 percent.Total employment in the Mansfield area has steadily declined by about 10,000 jobs since at least October 2006, when it stood at 59,245. .oembed-asset-link { background: #fff; border-bottom: 1px solid #e1e1e1; } .oembed-link-anchor { display: block; clear: both; } .oembed-link-thumbnail{ float: left; padding: 14px; } .oembed-link-thumbnail img { max-width: 78px; max-height: 60px; display: block; } p.oembed-link-title { font-size: 75%; color: #009BFF; margin: 0 14px; padding-top: 12px; font-weight:normal; text-align: left; line-height: 120%; } p.oembed-link-desc { font-size: 100%; color: #666; font-weight: normal; margin: 0 14px 14px 14px; font-family: 'Futura Today Light'; text-align: left; line-height: 120%; }Braintree CEO Bob Cohen found the numbers believable. “At Braintree, we see this with startups, particularly the high-tech startups that we focus on helping. It is difficult for them to afford to hire employees, and even when they can afford it, it is difficult for them to locate people in our area that have the skills or credentials they need. So quite often these companies end up leaving the area and, of course, the potential jobs leave the area also," Cohen said."Yes, this has been a difficult year. In fact the last 10 years have been difficult," he said."Much of the economic recovery that has occurred has been focused on just a few sectors and relatively few companies. Startups are particularly susceptible to small changes in the economy, particularly negative changes. It’s my opinion that many small companies have still not recovered from the economic downturn that began in 2007," Cohen said.The 2.3 percent job loss figure for the one-year period "is more than a blip, and it has a ripple effect. Fewer jobs means less spending, which results in more layoffs and closures and therefore even fewer jobs and even less spending," Cohen said.Downtown Mansfield Inc. CEO Jennifer Kime said jobs have remained an issue."Studies like this further highlight the need for a community like ours to continue to diversify and grow in economic independence through entrepreneurship," she said.But job growth has been seen in some areas of the Mansfield metro area, she added."The downtown business community continues to grow in both technology and service oriented businesses. As a testament to the resilience of entrepreneurship, several of our businesses downtown have experienced record breaking years and remain in a growth trend," Kime said."While we need to continue to support and develop our manufacturing base, our economy will be most successful the more we can continue our goals of diversification," she added.