Valley’s unemployment rate down from last August, but lags behind state, country

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning Valley’s nonseasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 5.7 percent last month from 6.5 percent in August 2017, according to Ohio Department of Job and Family Services data released Tuesday.

Employment in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties, however, did not increase. There were 221,000 people employed last month, compared with 227,300 last August.

The number of people in the civilian labor force dropped by 9,000, to 234,000.

The unemployment rate for Mahoning County dropped from 6.5 percent in August 2017 to 5.7 percent last month. In Youngstown, the unemployment rate for August was 7.4 percent, down from 8.5 percent last August.

In Trumbull County, the August unemployment rate dropped from 6.8 percent in 2017 to 6.1 percent.

The August unemployment rate in Columbiana County dropped to 5 percent from 5.7 percent.

In Ohio, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged from July to August at 4.6 percent, the Associated Press reported. This was down from 5 percent in August 2017.

The national rate was 3.9 in August, unchanged from July and down from 4.4 percent in August 2017.