Third and State

As Stephen Herzenberg mentioned, the August jobs report for Pennsylvania was released Thursday, and the numbers were universally disappointing.

Nonfarm payrolls edged down by 1,200 jobs. The news wasn’t any better in the household survey with employment down by 19,000, the labor force down by 3,000 and the number of unemployed up by 16,000.

These trends drove Pennsylvania's unemployment rate up another two-tenths of a percentage point to 8.1%. Since May, the unemployment rate in Pennsylvania has climbed seven-tenths of a percentage point and is now equal to national unemployment.

The table below presents the change in employment in the last three years from August to August of each year, plus the rank of the percentage change in employment in Pennsylvania when compared to the 50 states. As you can see, the pace of job growth has slowed in the last 12 months thanks in part to national economic conditions but also to the continued loss of public-sector employment in Pennsylvania.

Here is the link to the national summary of employment data by state.

Here is the link to charts and figures produced by the Center for Workforce Information and Analysis.

Here is the link to the press release issued by the Corbett administration.