Local Counties, Cities Top Ohio’s Jobless Rates

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Trumbull County reported the highest unemployment rate among Ohio’s 88 counties in July with Warren’s rate highest among rated Ohio cities, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported this morning.

Warren’s unemployment rate last month was 10.7%, up nearly two percentage points from June’s 8.5% rate and more than three points higher than a year earlier, 7.6% in July 2016.

Trumbull County’s unemployment rate in July was 8.7%, a jump of nearly two full points from the 6.8% rate in June and up from 6.4% in July 2016. The gains are attributed to temporary shutdowns at the General Motors Lordstown Complex.

Mahoning County had the third highest rate among Ohio counties last month, 8.1%, up a point and a half from 6.6% in June and two full points from 6.1% in July 2016. Youngstown’s 10.0% rate last month – tied with the city of Lorain for the second-highest rate in the state among Ohio cities listed – was up more than two full points from the 7.9% rate a year earlier and up from 8.6% in June.

Job losses in the manufacturing, local government, and educational and health services sectors in the metropolitan area that includes Mahoning and Trumbull counties drove up unemployment rates locally, according to a separately released report.

The Ohio Labor Market Review reported that manufacturing shed 1,900 jobs in July from the month before, and there were 3,000 fewer positions in the sector in the metropolitan statistical area that covers Mahoning and Trumbull counties in Ohio and Mercer County, Pa. Local government had 800 fewer positions in July than the month before in the MSA, but was up 400 over the year.

Educational and health services employed 700 fewer people last month than in June, and 200 fewer than a year earlier. State government employed 100 fewer workers in July than the month before, but 700 fewer than a year earlier.

Unemployment in the Youngstown-Warren MSA was highest among Ohio’s 10 metros, at 7.9%, up from 6.3% a year earlier and from 6.5% in June.

The unemployment rate was even higher when accounting only for the two Ohio counties, 8.4% in July. That compares to 6.7% in June and to 6.2% in July 2016.

Unemployment also was up from the prior month, but more modestly, in Columbiana County, which isn’t included in the Youngstown-Warren MSA. Columbiana County’s unemployment rate in July was 6.4%, up from 6.1% in June but down from 6.6% in July 2016.

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