HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 7.9 percent in July, up three-tenths of a percentage point from the revised June rate of 7.6 percent. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was below the U.S. rate of 8.3 percent, and has been below the U.S. rate for 51 consecutive months, and at or below the U.S. rate for 69 consecutive months.
The state unemployment rate was down 0.2 percentage points from July 2011.
Pennsylvania’s seasonally adjusted civilian labor force – the number of people working or looking for work – was up 10,000 in July to 6,478,000. Resident employment was down 10,000 to 5,969,000, and the number of unemployed residents was up 21,000 to 509,000. Pennsylvania’s labor force was 110,000 above its July 2011 level.
Seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs in Pennsylvania were down 3,100 in July to 5,709,200. Following a downward revision to the June jobs count, this was the fourth consecutive monthly decline. Since March, jobs were down 19,100, but this followed a two-month increase of 27,400 in February and March. Both goods producers and service providers declined from June. The largest drops were in education & health services and leisure & hospitality, which were each down 3,900 jobs. Mining & logging and professional & business services reached record high levels in July.
Pennsylvania’s job count was up 20,000 (0.4 percent) over the year while the national total nonfarm jobs were up 1,838,000 (1.4 percent) over the past 12 months.
Media contact: Christopher S. Manlove, 717-787-7530
Editor’s Note: A breakdown of Pennsylvania’s employment statistics is available online at www.dli.state.pa.us
