WARREN - Warren and Trumbull County preliminary unemployment rates continued to improve in January over the same month last year, although they climbed from December.
The city's rate fell to 9.9 percent from a revised 11.4 percent in January 2011, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services reported Friday. The latest number, however, was worse than the 9.5 percent in December.
The best and worst rates in the past 13 months for Warren were 9.3 percent in November and 12 percent in July.
Trumbull County's rate of 9.2 percent plunged below the revised 11.3 percent in January 2011, although it rose from the 8.6 percent in December.
The year's jobless rate for the county ranged from 11.3 percent in January to 8.2 percent in November.
The same pattern played out for Youngstown and Mahoning County.
Youngstown's rate of 11.3 percent compared to 12.5 percent in January 2011 and 9.7 percent in December.
The Mahoning County rate of 9.6 percent was better than 11.4 percent a year ago but worse than 8.3 percent the previous month.
County and city rates are compared year-over-year because they're not adjusted for seasonal trends, such as construction hiring in the spring and layoffs of holiday workers in January. The rise in January's rates from December reflected holiday worker layoffs.