Local unemployment drops along with civilian labor force in October

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The number of unemployed continues to fall in the Mahoning Valley, but so does the area’s civilian labor force.

In October, the Valley’s nonseasonally adjusted jobless rate dropped to 5.3 percent from 5.5 percent in October 2014. The number of unemployed went from 14,100 down to 13,200, according to data released Tuesday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

But the number of employed also dropped during the month from 240,500 to 236,400. The civilian labor force, or the total of employed and unemployed, went from 255,000 in October 2014 to 250,000 in October 2015.

The unemployment rate for Trumbull County last month was 5.5 percent – down from 5.8 percent reported in 2014; in Mahoning County alone the rate dropped from 5.4 percent down to 5.2 percent; and Columbiana County’s rate in last month stayed the same at 5.2 percent.

Ohio’s seasonally adjusted jobless rate was 4.4 percent in October 2015, down from 4.5 percent in September.

Ohio’s nonagricultural wage and salary employment increased 30,800 over the month, from a revised 5,396,400 in September to 5,427,200 in October 2015.

The number of workers unemployed in Ohio in October was 249,000, down 5,000 from 254,000 in September. The number of unemployed has decreased by 51,000 in the past 12 months from 300,000. The October unemployment rate for Ohio was down from 5.2 percent in October 2014.

Goods-producing industries, at 895,800, added 11,500 jobs over the month. Job gains in construction of 5,800 and manufacturing of 5,800 outweighed job losses in mining and logging of 100.

The private service-providing sector, at 3,773,700, added 24,800 jobs in educational and health services, leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, trade, transportation, and utilities, financial activities and other services.

Government employment, at 757,700 jobs, lost 5,500 jobs – 4,800 local jobs and 700 state jobs. Federal government employment did not change over the month.

The U.S. unemployment rate for October was 5 percent, down from 5.1 percent in September and down from 5.7 percent in October 2014.