Area Unemployment Drops, Still Tops Ohio

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Area unemployment rates declined in April, but the drop didn’t keep the Mahoning Valley’s two largest cities from having the highest rates in Ohio.

Data released this morning by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services showed Warren’s unemployment at 6.5%, the highest city unemployment rate among the cities tracked, while Youngstown had the second-highest rate at 6.2%.

Warren’s April rate was down modestly from its 6.7% the month before, and from 8.1% in April 2017. Youngstown’s month-over-month rate was down half a percentage point from 6.7% in March and was down nearly two full points from 8% a year earlier.

Rates for area counties were down by about half a point from March. Mahoning County’s unemployment rate in April was 5.2%, down from 5.7% the month before, and was down from 6.4% in April 2017.

Trumbull County experienced a similar month-over-month drop. Its unemployment rate last month was 5.5%, down from 6% in March and 6.7% in April 2017.

Columbiana County’s unemployment rate was 4.8% in April, down from 5.2% in March and 5.8% a year earlier.

The rate for the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman Metropolitan Statistical Area – which includes Mahoning and Trumbull counties in Ohio and Mercer County, Pennsylvania – was 5.1% in April, down from 5.7% in March and 6.2% in April 2017.

The rate was slightly higher in the Ohio-only portion of the MSA, 5.3%, down from 5.8% the month before and 6.5% a year earlier.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.