Valley Unemployment Rates Rise Modestly in October

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Area unemployment rates in October edged up slightly from the month before, the Ohio Department of Job & Family Services reported.

Countywide rates for Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties ranged from 4% to 4.3%, while rates for the Mahoning Valley’s two largest cities were among the highest in Ohio, according to data released Tuesday morning.

Trumbull County had the highest unemployment rate among the three local counties last month, 4.3%. That was up modestly from 4.2% in September but down from 4.4% in October 2022.

Mahoning County’s unemployment rate was slightly lower in October, 4.2%, up from 4% in September and down from 4.3% in October 2022.

Columbiana County’s unemployment rate last month was 4%, up a tenth of a percentage point from 3.9% the month before and down the same amount from October 2022’s 4.1%.

Warren posted the second highest unemployment rate in October among Ohio cities tracked by ODJFS, 5.3%, only exceeded by Toledo at 6.4%. The Trumbull county city’s rate last month was up from 5.1% in September and down from 5.5% in October 2022.

Youngstown’s unemployment rate was just a tenth of a percentage point lower than Warren’s October rate, 5.2%. It was down from 5.6% a year earlier and up from 5.1% in September.

The Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which covers Mahoning and Trumbull counties in Ohio and Mercer County in Pennsylvania, reported a 4.1% unemployment rate last month. That was up from 3.95 in September and down from 4.4% in October 2022. 

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.