Valley unemployment rate drops 0.2 percentage points in June

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning Valley’s nonseasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped 0.2 percentage points in June 2018 compared with June 2017, according to Ohio Department of Job and Family Services data released Tuesday.

The combined unemployment rate for Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties was 6.2 percent last month, compared with 6.4 percent in June 2017.

The number of people employed, however, dropped by 1,700 to 227,000. The number of people in the labor force dropped from 244,000 to 242,000.

In Mahoning County, June’s unemployment rate was 6.2 percent, compared with 6.4 percent in June 2017. In Youngstown, the rate dropped from 8.4 to 8.1 percent.

In Trumbull County, last month’s unemployment rate was 6.5 percent, down from 6.7 percent in June 2017.

In Columbiana County, the unemployment rate dropped from 5.9 percent last June to 5.8 percent this June.

Ohio’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose from 4.3 percent in May to 4.5 percent last month, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. The U.S. unemployment rate for June was 4 percent, up from 3.8 percent in May.