Valley jobless rate falls; size of labor force shrinks by 2,600

Staff report

COLUMBUS

Although the unemployment rate in the Mahoning Valley dipped markedly last month, the size of the active labor force in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties shrank significantly between March and April.

Data released recently by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services show the jobless rate for Valley counties stood at 4.8 percent in April 2019, down from 6.0 percent in March.

The size of the active labor force, however, decreased from 238,700 in March to 236,100 in April, the ODJFS data show, a loss of 2,600 workers in that 31-day span. Statewide, the active labor force increased by 1,400 between March and April.

The major factor in the shrinking workforce locally was the idling of the General Motors Lordstown Complex in early March, resulting in the layoffs of about 1,500 workers there, plus a variety of other cutbacks and shutdowns among suppliers and other industries tied to the GM plant that had produced the Chevrolet Cruze.

Trumbull County’s unemployment rate dropped from 6.6 percent in March to 5.3 percent in April. But improvements in employment elsewhere in the state resulted in Trumbull County ranking as the county with the third highest rate of joblessness among all 88 counties in the state in April. In March, Trumbull County ranked seventh highest in Ohio.

Mahoning County’s unemployment rate dropped from 6.1 percent in March to 4.9 percent in April. Statewide, it was the seventh-highest ranking county for unemployment last month, rising from 13th place in March.

Columbiana County’s unemployment rate stood at 3.8 percent in April, close to the national jobless rate of 3.6 percent and below the state unemployment rate of 4.3 percent. It had fallen from 4.8 percent in March.

The Valley’s two largest urban centers continued to report the highest unemployment rates in the region in April. The rate in Youngstown was 5.9 percent, and the rate in Warren was 6.0 percent, according to the ODJFS data.