Jobless rate creeps higher

Pennsylvania’s 4.7 percent unemployment in December higher than national average

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pennsylvania’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased one-tenth of a percentage point to 4.7 percent in December, according to data released Friday by the state Department of Labor and Industry. The state’s jobless rate sits higher than the U.S. rate of 4.1 percent in December.

Still, the Pennsylvania jobless rate remains near the lowest level the commonwealth has seen in a decade, driven by people leaving the labor force rather than finding jobs. Through the full year 2017, the state’s labor force shrunk by 62,000 people — which means there are 62,000 fewer residents employed or looking for work.

That registers as the largest annual drop in the labor force recorded in three years, according to the monthly reports.

At the heart of the numbers are two problems that workforce officials have been trying to figure out both statewide and in the Pittsburgh region.

They fear both that an older generation is aging out of the workforce more quickly than younger people can replace them and also that discouraged workers are giving up trying to find jobs.

Therefore, the monthly rise in unemployment in December could end up being good news for labor economists, though they typically look at several months of data at a time.

Another promising signal is the annual job growth in Pennsylvania of 1.3 percent in December, up from 1.1 percent in November. Employers across the state had opened up about 78,400 more jobs in 2017, according to seasonally adjusted figures.

Comparing industries over the year, eight of the 11 industry groups saw an increase in available positions.

Construction outperformed any other sector with 5.4 percent job growth, adding 13,100 positions since December 2016.

Leisure and hospitality recorded a 4 percent increase in positions, or about 23,000 new jobs, and professional and business services jumped nearly 3 percent, adding 23,200 payroll positions.

Mining and logging — a category that includes mostly coal mining jobs — finished the year with 700 more jobs, a 3 percent increase in positions. The industry had seen annual job cuts as high as 25 percent in 2016.

The biggest job cuts were seen in the information sector, which shed 2,200 jobs, or 2.6 percent of its workforce. Manufacturing cut 4,500 jobs, or nearly 1 percent of its workforce over the year.

The latest data are tentative and will be revised for next month’s statewide report. Workforce statistics for the Pittsburgh region for the month of December are due out on Jan. 30.