Valley’s January unemployment rate unchanged

Nonseason unemployment holds at 7.9 percent

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning Valley’s nonseasonally unemployment rate was unchanged in January 2018 from January 2017 at 7.9 percent, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services said on Tuesday.

The number of unemployed dropped by 300 to 18,700 from 19,000, and the number of employed also dropped from 221,600 to 219,600 in the Valley’s three counties: Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana.

The civilian labor force, which is the sum of the unemployed and employed, was 238,000, down from 241,000.

The January figures were released later than usual for annual benchmark revision processing. February unemployment figures for the counties will be released March 27.

The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.7 percent in January 2018, down from a revised 4.9 percent in December 2017.

Jobs in the state were added in construction, the private sector, professional and business services, educational and health services, trade, transportation and utilities, other services, financial activities and state and local government.

Losses were seen in manufacturing, leisure and hospitality and information.

The U.S. unemployment rate for January was 4.1 percent, unchanged from December and down from 4.8 percent in January 2017.