Pennsylvania's Employment Situation: October
Harrisburg – Pennsylvania's seasonally adjusted civilian labor force – the number of people working or looking for work – fell by 27,000 in October to 6,340,000. Resident employment was down 29,000 in October, while resident unemployment was up 2,000 over the month. The Pennsylvania labor force was down 95,000 over the year.
Pennsylvania's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.8 percent in October. The state rate has been at or below the United States' rate – which rose to 10.2 percent in October – for 81 of the past 82 months. Pennsylvania's rate was up 3 percentage points from October 2008, while the U.S. rate was up 3.6 percentage points over the year.
Pennsylvania's seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs count rose by 10,600 jobs in October. The gain in jobs was the second for the state in the past 14 months and was the largest single-month increase since June 2007. Nearly all of the October gain could be attributed to education and health services, which added a seasonally adjusted 11,600 jobs – a near reversal of the 10,100 jobs the sector lost in September. The leisure and hospitality, and government sectors each posted October gains of more than 1,000 jobs.
Pennsylvania jobs were down 3.2 percent since October 2008; nationally, jobs were down 4 percent during the same time period.
Editor's Note: A breakdown of Pennsylvania's employment statistics follows.
Current Labor Force Statistics
Seasonally Adjusted
(in thousands)
| |
Change from September 2009 |
Change from October 2008 |
| |
October 2009 |
September 2009 |
October 2008 |
| volume |
percent |
volume |
percent |
| PA |
| Civilian Labor Force |
6,340 |
6,367 |
6,435 |
-27 |
-0.4% |
-95 |
-1.5% |
| Employment |
5,779 |
5,808 |
6,060 |
-29 |
-0.5% |
-281 |
-4.6% |
| Unemployment |
561 |
559 |
375 |
2 |
0.4% |
186 |
49.6% |
| Rate |
8.8 |
8.8 |
5.8 |
0.0 |
---- |
3.0 |
---- |
| |
| U.S. |
| Civilian Labor Force |
153,975 |
154,006 |
154,878 |
-31 |
0.0% |
-903 |
-0.6% |
| Employment |
138,275 |
138,864 |
144,657 |
-589 |
-0.4% |
-6,382 |
-4.4% |
| Unemployment |
15,700 |
15,142 |
10,221 |
558 |
3.7% |
5,479 |
53.6% |
| Rate |
10.2 |
9.8 |
6.6 |
0.4 |
---- |
3.6 |
---- |
Pennsylvania Nonagricultural Wage and Salary Employment
Seasonally Adjusted
(in thousands)
| |
Change from September 2009 |
Change from October 2008 |
| |
October 2009 |
September 2009 |
October 2008 |
| volume |
percent |
volume |
percent |
| Total Nonfarm Jobs |
5,613.8 |
5,603.2 |
5,798.8 |
10.6 |
0.2% |
-185.0 |
-3.2% |
| |
| Goods Producing Industries |
817.2 |
822.2 |
913.6 |
-5.0 |
-0.6% |
-96.4 |
-10.6% |
| Mining & Logging |
23.9 |
23.7 |
22.7 |
0.2 |
0.8% |
1.2 |
5.3% |
| Construction |
226.6 |
228.0 |
253.4 |
-1.4 |
-0.6% |
-26.8 |
-10.6% |
| Manufacturing |
566.7 |
570.5 |
637.5 |
-3.8 |
-0.7% |
-70.8 |
-11.1% |
| |
| Service Providing Industries |
4,796.6 |
4,781.0 |
4,885.2 |
15.6 |
0.3% |
-88.6 |
-1.8% |
| Trade, Transportation & Utilities |
1,083.6 |
1,084.5 |
1,116.1 |
-0.9 |
-0.1% |
-32.5 |
-2.9% |
| Information |
96.5 |
97.2 |
102.1 |
-0.7 |
-0.7% |
-5.6 |
-5.5% |
| Financial Activities |
313.8 |
313.0 |
330.9 |
0.8 |
0.3% |
-17.1 |
-5.2% |
| Professional & Business Services |
667.4 |
667.1 |
708.9 |
0.3 |
0.0% |
-41.5 |
-5.9% |
| Education & Health Services |
1,130.7 |
1,119.1 |
1,110.7 |
11.6 |
1.0% |
20.0 |
1.8% |
| Leisure & Hospitality |
496.4 |
494.0 |
505.9 |
2.4 |
0.5% |
-9.5 |
-1.9% |
| Other Services |
251.2 |
250.8 |
255.5 |
0.4 |
0.2% |
-4.3 |
-1.7% |
| Government |
757.0 |
755.3 |
755.1 |
1.7 |
0.2% |
1.9 |
0.3% |
For a more detailed breakdown of seasonally adjusted jobs data at the sector level, please contact the Center for Workforce Information & Analysis at 1-877-4WF-DATA, or visit
paworkstats.state.pa.us.
Note: November 2009 labor force and nonfarm jobs statistics will be released Dec. 18, 2009.
For more information contact:
Troy Thompson, 717-787-7530