Mahoning Valley Counties, MSA, Cities See Unemployment Decline

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Area unemployment rates declined in September, with rates dipping below 6% in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties. 

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported Tuesday morning Trumbull County’s unemployment rate last month was 5.9%, 13th highest among Ohio’s 88 counties. That was down from 6.6% in August and down from 9.2% in September 2020. 

Mahoning County’s unemployment rate was just below Trumbull’s at 5.8% last month, tied with Erie and Lucas counties, down from 6.5% the month before and from 9.3% in September 2020. 

Columbiana County’s 5.3% September rate was down from 8.1% a year earlier and 6.2% in August, 25th highest among the state’s counties.

The unemployment rate for the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman Metropolitan Statistical Area – which incorporates Mahoning and Trumbull counties in Ohio and Mercer County in Pennsylvania – was 5.9% in September, down from 6.8% the month before and 8.9% in September 2020. 

Youngstown recorded a 7.7% unemployment rate last month, second highest among Ohio cities ODJFS includes in its monthly reports, though down from 8.9% a year earlier and 6.8% in August.  Its rate was just below Lima’s 7.8% rate in September.

Warren’s unemployment rate was 7.3% in September, down just shy of a full percentage point from 8.2% in August and down from 12.6% in September 2020.  

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.