HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania’s seasonally adjusted unemployment was 7.5 percent in June, up one-tenth of a percentage point from the 7.4 percent May rate. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was below the U.S. rate of 8.2 percent, and has been below the U.S. rate for 50 consecutive months, and at or below the U.S. rate for 68 consecutive months.
June was the first increase in Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate since July 2011. The state’s unemployment rate was down 0.5 percentage points from June 2011.
Pennsylvania’s seasonally adjusted civilian labor force – the number of people working or looking for work – was up 16,000 in June to 6,469,000. Resident employment was up 3,000 to 5,981,000, and the number of unemployed residents was up 13,000 to 488,000. Pennsylvania’s labor force was 97,000 above its June 2011 level.
Seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs in Pennsylvania were up 14,600 in June to 5,729,700, the highest level sinceDecember 2008. This was the first increase in the past three months. Both goods producers and service providers added jobs from May, but the majority of the increase was in service providing industries. Government had the largest increase of any supersector, up 9,000 with most of the gain in local government. Three supersectors, leisure and hospitality, mining and logging, and professional and business services, reached record high levels in June.
Pennsylvania’s job count was up 37,200 (0.7 percent) over the year while national total nonfarm jobs were up 1,777,000 (1.4 percent) over the past 12 months.
Editor’s Note: A breakdown of Pennsylvania’s employment statistics is available online at www.dli.state.pa.us.
