MSA Unemployment Rates Decline in April

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Gains in workforce sectors including goods-producing industries and private services in April cut  local unemployment rates down by about a point from March, data released this morning by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services show.

The April unemployment rate in the  metropolitan statistical area that encompasses Mahoning and Trumbull counties in Ohio and Mercer County in Pennsylvania was 5.6%, down a full percentage point from 6.6% in March and down from 6.1% in April 2014.

The metro area workforce totaled 226,400 in April, an increase of 3,500 from March. Mining, logging and construction added 1,700 jobs over the month and manufacturing added another 500. The private service-providing sector added 1,500 jobs, with increases in leisure and hospitality (900), professional and business services (500), trade, transportation and utilities (400) and other services.

The gains offset decreases in education and health services (down 400). Employment in local government declined by 200 positions while federal and state government remained at March levels.

Over the year, goods-producing industries added 900 jobs in the metro area, private services added 300, leisure and hospitality added 1,300, and trade, transportation and utilities added 1,000. The majority of losses came in educational and health services, down 1,700.

In the Ohio-only portion of the metro area, unemployment was 5.7% in April, down from 6.8% in March and from 6.3% in April 2014.

Local county rates in April all declined by a percentage point or more from March. In Trumbull County, the April unemployment rate was 5.9%, down from 7.0% in March and down from 6.5% in April 2014. Mahoning County’s unemployment rate was 5.6% last month, down from 6.6% in March and from 6.1% in April 2014. Columbiana County’s unemployment also declined by a full percentage point over the month, from 6.3% in March to 5.3% in April, and down from 5.9% a year earlier.

In Youngstown, unemployment declined to 7.1% in April from 8.2% in March and 7.7% in April 2014. Warren’s unemployment rate declined by slightly under a full percentage point, to 6.8% last month from 7.7% in March, and was down a full point from 7.8% in April 2014.

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