Youngstown, Lorain Post Highest May Jobless Rates
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Youngstown and Lorain had the highest unemployment rates among Ohio cities of 50,000 or more in May, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported this morning.
In both cites, the unemployment rate was 7.4% last month, according to the monthly data. The city of Warren followed close behind, at 7.2%, the third-highest rate among cities the state agency tracks in the monthly report.
Warren’s unemployment rate last month was improved from 7.5% in April, although up from 7.0% in May 2015. Youngstown’s rate last month was up a tenth of a percentage point from April’s 7.3% rate and down a tenth of a point from May 2015’s 7.5%.
Despite Youngstown’s rate, Mahoning County posted a lower rate last month than either Trumbull or Columbiana counties, which both were among the top 20 counties with the highest rates in May.
Trumbull County reported a 6.2% unemployment rate in May, the 16th highest rate among Ohio counties, up from 6.1% a year earlier but down from April’s 6.7%. Columbiana County’s May rate – 18th highest among Ohio counties — was 6.1%, down half a percentage point from 6.6% in April but up from 5.4% in May 2015.
Mahoning County’s unemployment rate was 5.8%, unchanged from a year earlier and down from 6.2% in April. Its rate was 21st highest among Ohio counties.
The Youngstown-Warren-Boardman metropolitan statistical area, which covers Mahoning and Trumbull counties in Ohio and Mercer County in Pennsylvania, posted a 6.0% unemployment rate in May, up from 5.9% a year earlier but down from April’s 6.2. The Ohio-only portion of the MSA reported a similar 6.0% last month, unchanged from a year earlier but down from April’s 6.4%.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
