Youngstown, Warren Top State Unemployment

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Mahoning Valley posted the state’s highest unemployment numbers in January, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, as Youngstown and Warren ranked first and second at 8.7% and 8.4%.

Those figures are up from December, when Youngstown saw an unemployment rate of 7.9% and Warren saw 7.5%, but down from January 2018’s 9.5% and 9.1%, respectively.

Overall, the Youngstown-Warren Metropolitan Statistical Area – Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties in Ohio, along with Mercer County, Pa. – had an unemployment rate of 6.8% in January, a number that increases to 7.4% when looking at just the Ohio counties.

All three counties here posted a similar pattern: up about a percentage point from December, but down from January 2019.

Mahoning County’s rate in January was 7.2%, up from 6.3% in December but down from January 2018’s 8.2%. Trumbull County posted a rate of 7.7%, up from 6.6% in December and down from the previous January’s 8.6%. And Columbiana County recorded an unemployment rate of 6.5% to start 2019, up from 5.3% in December and down slightly from the 6.5% mark in January 2018.

Across all 88 of Ohio’s counties, Trumbull County ranked 17th in unemployment rate, Mahoning County 22nd and Columbiana County 32nd. Monroe County posted the highest rate at 12.1%, while Mercer County was the lowest at 3.2%.

Statewide, Ohio’s unemployment rate is 4.7%, compared to 4% nationally.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.