Johnstown, PA.: Ordeal of a Union Town

They had a merry Christmas in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

For the first time in three years, the holiday passed without a steel mill being shut down. The unemployment rate was about 14 percent, nearly double the national average but well below the 25 percent Johnstown suffered into the spring of 1983. Many people think the worst is over, and some are optimistic about the town’s economic prospects.