Valley Cities Post State’s Highest Jobless Rates

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Mahoning Valley’s two largest cities shared a familiar, if unwelcome, distinction in March. Warren and Youngstown reported the having the two highest unemployment rates among Ohio cities, despite a month-over-month decline in both cities’ rates.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported Warren’s unemployment rate at 6.7% last month, down from 7.1% in February but still highest among Ohio cities for which the department tracks rates.

Youngstown’s unemployment rate last month was slightly lower, at 6.6%, also down from the month before –­ 6.9% – but still high enough to place second in the state.

Both cities’ rates were down sharply from the year before. In March 2017, unemployment stood at 10.8% in Warren and 10.3% in Youngstown.

The decline in city unemployment rates also was reflected in the county and metropolitan area rates.

Trumbull County’s unemployment rate was 6.0% in March, down from 6.3% the month before and from 9.4% in March 2017.

In Mahoning County, unemployment last month was 5.7%, down from 6.1% in February and from 8.9% in March 2017.

Columbiana County’s rate was 5.2%, down form 6.9% a year earlier and from 5.7% in February.

The unemployment rate for the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman metropolitan statistical area – which covers Mahoning and Trumbull counties in Ohio and Mercer County, Pa. — was 5.7% in March, down from 8.5% a year earlier and from 6.1% in February.

The Ohio-only portion of the MSA recorded an unemployment rate of 5.8%, down from 6.2% in February and from 9.1% a year earlier.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.