Valley Cities No. 2 and 3 in January Unemployment

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Youngstown had the second-highest unemployment rate in the state the month of January, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported this morning.

The city’s 9.1% rate was exceeded only by Lorain’s 9.2% unemployment rate among the cities tracked by the department. Third among Ohio cities was Warren, which posted an 8.9% rate for the month.

Local unemployment rates all rose sharply from December. Youngstown’s January unemployment rate up from 7.5% the month before, although down a full percentage point from 10.1% in January 2016. Warren’s unemployment rate was up nearly two full percentage points from the 7.1% rate in December, but down more than a point and a half from the 10.6% rate in January 2016.

Among counties in the Mahoning Valley, Trumbull County had the highest rate in January at 7.8%, up from 6.2% in December but down from January 2016’s 9.3% rate. Columbiana County posted a 7.7% unemployment rate in January, down slightly from 7.9% a year earlier and up from December’s 5.9% rate.

In Mahoning County, the January unemployment rate was 7.5%, down from 8.7% a year earlier but up from December’s 5.9% rate.

For the metropolitan statistical area that covers Mahoning and Trumbull counties in Ohio and Mercer County in Pennsylvania, unemployment stood at 7.3% in January, down from 8.4% a year earlier but up from 5.9% in December. In the Ohio-only portion of the MSA, unemployment was 7.6% in January, up from 6.1% in December but down from 9.0% in January 2016.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.