Valley Unemployment Rates See Big Drop in March

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Youngstown and Warren posted large drops in the unemployment rate for March, with each city down more than a percentage point from February’s levels.

Youngstown’s rate, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, was 7.9% last month, down from 8.9% in February and 9.6% in March 2020.

Meanwhile, Warren’s rate fell nearly three percentage points to 7.1%. In February, the rate was 9.9%. The unemployment rate in March 2020 was 9.1%.

The cities had the highest and third-highest rates in the state, separated only by Sandusky’s 7.5%.

At the county level, Mahoning County had the area’s highest unemployment rate at 6.6%, though that figure is down from 7.1% in February and 8% in March 2020.

Trumbull County had a 6.4% rate in March, down from 6.1% in February and 8.2% a year ago. Columbiana County’s unemployment rate was 5.4%, down a full percentage point from the month prior and from 7.2% in March 2020.

For the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman metropolitan statistical area – Mahoning and Trumbull counties, as well as Mercer County, Pa. – the unemployment rate was 6.9%, down from 7.8% in both February and March 2020.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.