Youngstown, Warren Again Top Ohio Unemployment

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – February unemployment rates in Youngstown and Warren remained the highest in Ohio, despite rates in both cities falling by more than a full percentage point from the month before.

Local unemployment rates were roughly comparable to those posted a year earlier, according to data released this morning by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Youngstown posted the highest unemployment rate, 7.4%, among Ohio cities last month, down from 8.7% in January and slightly above February 2018’s 7.2% rate.

Warren’s unemployment rate last month was 7.3%, unchanged from a year earlier and down from 8.4% in January.

Mahoning County’s February unemployment rate was 6.2%, just below 6.3% a year earlier and down a full point from 7.2% in January. Trumbull County’s 6.6% rate last month was a tenth of a point higher than a year earlier, and down more than a full point from January’s 7.7%. Columbiana County posted an unemployment rate of 5.5%, down from January’s 6.5% and February 2018’s 5.9%.

The unemployment rate for the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman Metropolitan Statistical Area – which covers Mahoning and Trumbull counties in Ohio, plus Mercer County, Pa. – was 6.0% in February, down a fifth of a point from a year earlier and down nearly a full point from January’s 6.9% rate.

The Ohio-only portion of the MSA posted a 6.4% rate, the same as a year earlier and a full point from 7.4% in January.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.