Local Unemployment Rates Continue Drop, but Still High

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Local unemployment rates continued to drop in July, but are still far above where they were pre-pandemic.

Warren’s unemployment rate was 14.7% last month, according to the Ohio Department of Job Family Services, and Youngstown was at 14.3%. Both figures are down from the month prior – 16.3% in Warren and 16.9% in Youngstown – but up significantly from July 2019. Then, Warren’s unemployment rate was 7.6% and Youngstown’s was 7.7%. 

All of the cities that posted higher rates than Warren and Youngstown – which ranked sixth and seventh in July, respectively – are in Greater Cleveland, with Maple Heights topping the state at 17.9% unemployment. Also ahead of the two local cities are Cleveland (17%), Euclid (16.6%), Garfield Heights (16.5%) and Lorain (16%).

Trumbull County had the highest rate among the three area counties at 11.1%, followed closely by Mahoning County at 11% and Columbiana County at 10.1%. The rates are all about two percentage points from June, when Trumbull County had an unemployment rate of 13.6%, Mahoning County a rate of 13.2% and Columbiana County a rate of 11.9%. 

For the entire Youngstown-Boardman-Warren metropolitan statistical area – which includes Mahoning and Trumbull Counties, as well as Mercer County, Pa. – the unemployment rate was 11.8%, down from 13.3% in June but up from July 2019’s 6.1%.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.