Local Unemployment Rates Rise Slightly in October

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Local unemployment rates edged upward in October from the month before, according to data released this morning by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Unemployment rates last month in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties all rose a tenth of a percentage point from September. Trumbull County’s jobless rate of 5.5% rate in October was up from September’s 5.4%, while Columbiana and Mahoning counties each reported 5.2% rates in October, both up from 5.1% in  September.

Compared to 2014, however, Mahoning and Trumbull counties each reported decreases. Mahoning’s unemployment rate was 5.4% in October 2014 while Trumbull’s was 5.8%. Columbiana County’s October rate was unchanged from a year ago.

Meanwhile, the October unemployment rate for the metropolitan statistical area that includes Mahoning and Trumbull counties was unchanged from September.

The unemployment rate for the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman MSA, which covers the two Ohio counties along with Mercer County, Pa., was 5.2% in October, the same as the month before. A year earlier, the MSA’s unemployment rate was 5.5%.

For the two Ohio counties in the MSA, the unemployment rate was 5.3% in October, up from 5.2% in September but down from 5.6% in October 2014.

The two largest cities both reported increases in unemployment rates over the month, but declines from a year ago.

In Youngstown, the October unemployment rate was 6.5%, up from 6.4% in September but down from 7.2% in October 2014. In Warren, the October 2015 rate was 6.4%, up from 6.3% in September but down from 7.1% a year ago.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.