Valley’s unemployment rate rises in December

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning Valley’s nonseasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 6.2 percent in December from December 2017’s rate of 5.8 percent, according to figures recently released by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

While the number of unemployed people in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties rose from 14,000 in December 2017 to 14,700 in December 2018, the number of employed people fell from 224,900 to 221,000 and the civilian labor force dropped from 239,000 to 236,000.

In Mahoning County, the December unemployment rate rose from 5.9 percent to 6.3 percent. In Trumbull County, it increased from 6.1 percent to 6.6 percent. In Columbiana County, the December unemployment rate was 5.4 percent, up from 5.2 percent in December 2017.

In the city of Youngstown, the unemployment rate was 7.9 percent in December, an increase from 7 percent the previous December.

Ohio’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.6 percent in December, down from 4.9 percent in December 2017, the Associated Press reported.

Nationally, the unemployment rate was 3.9 percent in December, down from 4.1 percent in December 2017.