Local Unemployment Rates Hold Steady

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Local unemployment rates were largely stable in March, data from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services show, though Warren and Youngstown still posted the highest rates among Ohio cities.

Warren’s unemployment rate was the highest in the state at 7.5% last month, up from 7.3% in February. Youngstown’s unemployment rate was 7.2%, down from 7.5% the month before. In March 2018, both cities reported rates of 7.1%.  

Trumbull County – where the General Motors Lordstown Complex ceased production of the Chevrolet Cruze in March and laid off of its remaining employees – reported a 6.6% unemployment rate last month, seventh highest among Ohio’s 88 counties though unchanged from the February rate.

In March 2018, Trumbull County’s unemployment rate was 6.4%. Mahoning County’s unemployment rate in March was 6.1%, the same as a year earlier and down from February’s 6.2%.

The unemployment rate in Columbiana County, 4.9%,dropped substantially in March compared to the month before, when it was 5.5%, and a year earlier, when it was 5.6%.

For the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses Mahoning and Trumbull counties in Ohio and Mercer County, Pa., unemployment was 5.9%, down from 6.0% in March 2018 and February.

In the Ohio-only portion of the MSA, unemployment was 6.3%, down a tenth of a percentage point from the month before and up a tenth from March 2018.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.