Virus Causes Jobless Rates to Rise Across Valley

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Youngstown and Warren posted unemployment rates of 8% and 8.2%, respectively, in March, each at least a percentage point higher than the month before.

In February, Youngstown posted a 6.8% unemployment rate, while Warren reported a rate of 7.2%. In March 2019, Youngstown’s unemployment rate was 7.3% and Warren’s was 7.8%.

The increase comes in the first substate unemployment report from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services since the coronavirus began affecting the state. 

The two Valley cities ranked seventh and eighth in the state for unemployment rate, the first time in years they didn’t hold the top two spots. Maple Heights and Lorain posted the highest rate among cities in Ohio at 9.7%, followed by Cleveland at 9.2%, Garfield Heights at 8.9%, Euclid at 8.5% and Elyria at 8.3%.

Trumbull County posted a March unemployment rate of 7.4%, up from 6.8% in both the previous month and March 2019. Mahoning County’s rate was 7%, up from 6.3% in February and 6.2% in March last year. Columbiana County was at 6%, up from 5.8% the month before and 5% in March 2019.

In the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman Metropolitan Statistical Area – which includes Mahoning and Trumbull counties, along with Mercer County in Pennsylvania – the unemployment rate was 7.2%, up from 6.4% in February and 6.1% in March 2019.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.