Local unemployment rate down 1 percent

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Local unemployment in the Mahoning Valley dropped by 1 percent year over year to 7.7 percent in January.

The unemployment rate in January 2016 was 8.8 percent.

The number of unemployed dropped from 21,600 down to 18,400, but the number of employed also dropped from 224,800 to 222,200.

The civilian labor force, or the sum of the employed and unemployed, dropped from 246,000 to 241,000.

Ohio’s unemployment rate was 5 percent in January, unchanged from a revised 5 percent in December, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported.

Local unemployment figures for January will be released Tuesday.

Ohio’s nonagricultural wage and salary employment decreased 2,100 over the month, from a revised 5,503,700 in December to 5,501,600 in January.

The number of workers unemployed in Ohio in January was 287,000, up 3,000 from 284,000 in December.

The number of unemployed has increased by 4,000 in the past 12 months from 283,000. The January unemployment rate for Ohio did not change from one year ago.

The U.S. unemployment rate for January was 4.8 percent, 0.1 percentage points higher than in December and 0.1 percentage points lower than in January 2016.