Valley’s July jobless rate down year over year

YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning Valley’s non-seasonally adjusted jobless rate in July was 6 percent — down from the 6.2 percent reported in July 2015.

Figures released today by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Service show the number of unemployed dropped by 300 to 15,100 while the number of employed increased by 900 to 235,000.

The civilian labor force, or the sum of the unemployed and employed, stayed the same at 250,000.

The state’s seasonally-adjusted jobless rate also dropped in July to 4.8 percent from 5 percent reported in June.

Ohio saw job gains of 8,000 in the private sector, 5,000 jobs in health and educational sectors and 2,700 jobs were added in trade, transportation and utilities.

The U.S. July seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 4.9 percent, which was unchanged from June.