Local Unemployment Rates Rise in December

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Local unemployment rates rose in December, with the Mahoning Valley’s two largest cities reporting the two highest rates for the month.

The latest monthly data released Tuesday morning by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services showed Trumbull County’s unemployment rate at 4.7% last month, up from 4.5% a year earlier and from 4.0% in November. Mahoning County’s December unemployment rate was slightly lower, 4.5%, up from 3.8% the month before and from 4.3% in December 2021.

In Columbiana County, the December unemployment rate was 4.3%, up from 3.9% a year earlier and from 3.7% in November.

Warren’s 5.7% unemployment rate, highest among Ohio cities the state department tracks, was up nearly a full percentage point from 4.9% in November and up from 5.1% in December 2021.

Youngstown, with a slightly lower 5.4% unemployment rate, reported the second highest unemployment rate among Ohio cities. Its unemployment rose from 4.8% in November and was up from 5.2% in December 2021.   

In the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which covers Mahoning and Trumbull counties in Ohio and Mercer County, Pa., the December unemployment rate was 4.5%, unchanged from a year earlier but up from 3.9% in November.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.