Valley jobless rate up

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning Valley’s nonseasonally adjusted March unemployment rate went up 1.4 percent year over year.

In March, the rate was 8.5 percent, up from 7.1 percent reported in March 2016, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services said Tuesday.

The number of unemployed across the Valley went up from 17,500 in March 2016 to 21,000 while the number of employed dropped from 228,400 to 225,600.

The civilian labor force, or the sum of the unemployed and employed, increased by 1,000 from 246,000 in March 2016 to 247,000 in March 2017.

Mahoning County’s unemployment rate was 8.7 percent in March 2017, up 1.9 percent from March 2016’s rate of 6.8 percent.

The number of unemployed went up from 7,200 in March 2016 to 9,300 in March. Meanwhile, the number of employed dropped from 99,000 to 97,800.

The civilian labor force in March increased to 107,100 from 106,200.

In Trumbull County, the unemployment rate went up 1.9 percent to 9.2 percent from 7.3 percent reported in March 2016.

The number of unemployed was 8,400, up from 6,700, while the number of employed dropped to 83,200 from 84,200.

The civilian labor force went up to 91,600 in March 2017 from 90,900 in March 2016.

Columbiana County’s unemployment rate in March 2017 dropped 0.6 percent to 6.8 percent from 7.4 percent reported the previous year.

The number of unemployed dropped to 3,200 from 3,600 and the number of employed also dropped to 44,600 from 45,200.

The civilian labor force dropped to 47,800 from 48,800.

Ohio’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.1 percent in March, unchanged from February.

The U.S. unemployment rate for March was 4.5 percent, 0.2 percentage points lower than in February, and 0.5 percentage points lower than in March 2016.