Region sees fewer new jobs than normal in adjusted rate

The latest job news for the Pittsburgh area looked better before it was seasonally adjusted.

In raw numbers, employers in the region added 6,700 jobs between May and June. But when those numbers were adjusted to take into account the usual fluctuations of seasonal employment, fewer jobs were added than normal — 1,200 fewer.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell from 5.3 percent in May to 5.1 percent in June. The rate was down, in part, because the labor force had about 1,600 fewer people than would be expected in June.

The two-tenths of a percentage point decline was the same as experienced in the rest of the country where the unemployment rate fell from 5.5 percent in May to 5.3 percent in June.

Overall, the June unemployment rate was the lowest that the region has seen since December,

when it hit 5 percent, before creeping back up to 5.3 percent where it has stayed since March. June’s regional unemployment rate was one-half of a percentage point lower than it was in June 2014.

The seven-county metropolitan statistical area is made up of Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties.

Butler County had the lowest unemployment rate in the region at 4.6 percent in June. Fayette County had the highest rate at 7.1 percent.

A look at which job categories are growing — a number that is not seasonally adjusted — showed the region added 23,500 nonfarm jobs over the past year.

The net gain was entirely in the private sector, which added 24,100 positions even as government employment fell by 600. Local governments in the sevencounty region were down by a combined 1,500 jobs in June from employment in June 2014 — 1,000 of those jobs were in the public schools.

Comparing June 2015 with June 2014, leisure and hospitality added the most jobs at 7,000, with 5,600 of those at restaurants and bars.

Over 12 months, education and health services added 6,600 jobs, while trade, transportation and utilities, which are grouped together as a category, added 5,600 jobs with 2,500 of those in retail trade.

In the goods producing sector, mining and logging added 1,100 jobs in the region over the past year. Construction jobs were up by 1,900, but manufacturing saw a loss of 300 positions.

Jobs were also lost over the year in administrative and support services, which cut 2,900 jobs, and at colleges and universities, where 1,200 jobs were lost.