The Unemployment Rate In Pennsylvania Goes Down To 4.2 Percent In August

The preliminary employment situation report by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) for the month of August 2022 was released on the 16^th.

Pennsylvania's unemployment rate observed the lowest it has since June 2000 by going down one-tenth of a percentage point over the month to 4.2 percent in August. This is while the US unemployment rate was up two-tenths of a percentage point over the month to 3.7 percent.

The unemployment rate of the commonwealth was 1.9 percentage points lower than what it was in August 2021. The national rate decreased by 1.5 percentage points throughout the year.

L&I Secretary Jennifer Berrier says that this is an opportunity to think about the value of labor, with the unemployment rate in Pennsylvania dropping down to 4.2%. This shows that the Pennsylvanian workers are having access to a good competitive job market.

While things are like this, we should keep in mind that records are there to be broken and that trends can change over the course of time. When we battle the economic challenges we face today, we should make it our top priority to protect the most valuable economic asset – people.

The civilian labor force of Pennsylvania, which is an estimated number of residents working or looking for work, increased by 2,000 within the last month. During last month alone, the employment count increased by 4,000 to a total of 6,175,000. The resident unemployment decreased by 2,000 to a total of 273,000.

The number of nonfarm jobs in Pennsylvania increased by 6,700 over the month to a total of 5,984,400 in August. Among the 11 industry supersectors, jobs increased in 7. Trade, transportation, & utilities, and professional & business services, which are the two industry supersectors with the largest gains rose to record high levels.

With gains in 10 of the 11 supersectors, total nonfarm jobs were up 201,600 over the year. The supersectors of trade, transportation & utilities; information; and professional & business services reached beyond their pre-pandemic job levels in August 2022.

From the jobs lost during the first two months of the Covid pandemic, approximately 90% of jobs have been recovered by Pennsylvania from April 2020 through August 2022.