Mahoning Valley Jobless Rates Rise in February

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Unemployment rates in the Mahoning Valley’s two largest cities spiked in February, tying them for the third-highest rate in Ohio for the month.

Both Warren and Youngstown reported 9.5% unemployment rates last month, up from 8.9% in January for the former and from 9.1% for the latter, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported this morning. In February 2016, Warren’s unemployment rate was 8.2% and Youngstown’s was 8.3%.

The two cities placed third behind Lorain, which at 10.6% reported the highest February unemployment rate among the major Ohio cities for which the department releases figures, and Cleveland, which had a 9.6% rate.

Trumbull County, where Warren is located, reported an 8.4% unemployment rate in February, up a full percentage point from the 7.4% rate it reported a year earlier, and up from January’s 7.8%.

Mahoning County posted a 7.9% unemployment rate last month, up from 7.5% the month before and nearly a full point from February 2016’s 7.0% rate.

Columbiana County reported a 7.3% unemployment rate in February, down from 7.7% in January and from 7.6% in February 2016.

The Youngstown-Warren metropolitan statistical area, which covers Mahoning and Trumbull counties in Ohio and Mercer County in Pennsylvania, reported a 7.7% unemployment rate in February, up from 7.3% in January and from 6.9% in February 2016.

In the Ohio-only portion of the MSA, the unemployment rate was 8.1% last month, up nearly a full point from 7.2% a year earlier and up half a point from January’s 7.6%.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.