Valley Cities Have Highest Unemployment Rates

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Local unemployment rates declined in February from the month before, but the Mahoning Valley’s two largest cities still had among the highest percentages of unemployed among Ohio’s larger cites.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, in its release of unemployment rates for February, set Youngstown’s unemployment rate at 8.5%, down sharply from January’s 10.4% but still the highest rate among Ohio’s larger cities.

Warren, at 8.4%, was tied with Lorain for the second highest rate among Ohio’s cities. Its unemployment rate also was down markedly from January’s 10.7%.

In February 2015, Youngstown’s unemployment rate was 8.0% and Warren’s 7.7%.

County rates in the region also declined over the month, according to the monthly data released this morming. Trumbull County posted the highest rate of the three counties in February, 7.5%, down more than two percentage points from 9.6% in January but half a point higher than February 2015’s 7.0%.

Mahoning County’s 7.1% unemployment rate was down nearly two full points from January’s 8.9% but higher than 6.6% a year ago. In Columbiana County, the unemployment rate was 7.0% in February, down from 8.1% in January but still above February 2015’s 6.4%.

For the metropolitan statistical area that covers Mahoning and Trumbull counties in Ohio and Mercer County in Pennsylvania, the unemployment rate was 6.9% in February, down from 8.5% a month earlier but up from 6.5% in February 2015. In the Ohio-only portion of the MSA, the unemployment rate was 7.3% last month, down from 9.2% in January but up from February 2015’s 6.7%.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.