Local unemployment down in February

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning Valley’s nonseasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped again in February to 6.7 percent compared with 8.4 percent in February 2014.

In the three counties that make up the Valley — Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana — the number of unemployed dropped from 21,000 in February 2014 down to 16,600 in February 2015, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services data released Tuesday.

But Cleveland-based Economist George Zeller said the state and the area still aren’t recovering fast enough. Zeller said the state has consecutively been behind the nation’s growth for 28 months in a row in job growth.

“The gap between the U.S. and Ohio got wider in February,” he said. “[We are] recovering too slowly.”

Zeller said he found the job-growth rate in February to be 1.57 percent, while the U.S. job growth rate was 1.23 percent. However, Zeller said we should be happy with the jobs that have been added.

The state’s nonfarm wage and salary employment increased 3,300 over the month, from a revised 5,383,900 in January to 5,387,200 in February, according to figures released Friday by ODJFS.

The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate went unchanged from January to February at 5.1 percent.

The U.S. unemployment rate was 5.5 percent in February. Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 295,000 in February in the nation, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.

The number of employed in the Valley increased from February 2014 to February 2015 by 2,300. The civilian labor force dropped by 2,000 year over year in the Valley.

Columbiana County alone saw a drop in the jobless rate by 1.5 percent — from 8 percent in February 2014 down to 6.5 percent in February 2015.

Trumbull’s dropped from 8.8 percent to 7 percent.

Mahoning’s unemployment rate also dropped from 8.3 percent in February 2014 to 6.6 percent in February 2015.

The Mahoning Valley unemployment rate was 7.3 percent in January 2015, but the February rate should not be compared with January because of seasonal unemployment.