Unemployment in Pennsylvania

The Keystone Research Center reports that:

Total nonfarm employment in Pennsylvania fell in May by just over 14,000 jobs, according to a new report from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. This is an abrupt reversal from March when the state added 23,000 jobs and highlights that monthly state-level payroll data are volatile and should be viewed with some caution.

Taking into account May’s poor performance, the Commonwealth has added an average of just over 7,700 jobs a month since December. This remains a healthier pace of job growth than in the recovery from the 2001 recession. Still, Pennsylvania is more than 230,000 jobs short of full employment.

This is Pennsylvania’s job’s deficit:

Pennsylvania’s jobs deficit, or the difference between the number of jobs Pennsylvania has and the number it needs to regain its pre-recession employment rate, is 235,200. That number includes the 130,900 jobs Pennsylvania lost plus the 104,300 jobs it needs to keep up with the 1.8% growth in population that has occurred in the 41 months since the recession began.

Sadly, Pennsylvania’s unemployment record has been a good one during the Great Recession. Yet what comfort might the un- and under-employed gain from this knowledge? Little to no comfort, I would guess.

Related articles

• Pennsylvania unemployment rate drops to 7.5% (pennlive.com)
• Unemployment rate falls in just 24 states in May (usatoday.com)
• Pennsylvania unemployment rate drops to 7.8% (pennlive.com)
• Unemployment falls in fewer than half US states (seattlepi.com)
• Unemployment fell in fewer than half US states (seattlepi.com)
• Pennsylvania Unemployment Deal Will Avert Benefits Cutoff For 45,000 (huffingtonpost.com)
• Industrial Midwest leads jobs recovery, but national picture spotty (knoxnews.com)