Lehigh Valley unemployment dips slightly in February to 7.5%
Remains nearly 3 percentage points higher than last year
The Lehigh Valley unemployment rate dipped slightly in February, as the region saw a slight increase in the number of people working new jobs.
The seasonally adjusted jobless rate was 7.5%, down one-tenth of a percentage point from January’s revised mark of 7.6%, according to data released Tuesday by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry.
But over the last six months, the rate has remained persistently higher than last year’s measure, a sign that an economic recovery on the labor front has remained stagnant.
The February rate is also 2.8 percentage points above February 2020, when it was 4.7%, nearly two months before the pandemic began to erase many area jobs.
In the last year, seasonal nonfarm jobs have declined 21,800 in the region, which includes Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon counties, and Warren County, New Jersey. Rates are seasonally adjusted to account for annual spikes, such as holiday hiring.
Jobs in educational services and local government rebounded by nearly 2,000 as classes resumed during the winter break. Leisure and hospitality, a sector hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak, saw small jobs growth, as the state has moderated restrictions due to COVID-19.
Since last year, the region saw 7,700 fewer jobs in the sector, which includes accommodations, restaurants and bars. Many area merchants say they are having a hard time filling jobs, as pandemic restrictions have eased, allowing more patrons to pass through their establishments.
Steven Zellers, a state industry and business analyst, said the Valley has regained nearly three-fourths of about 76,700 jobs lost during the pandemic.
That continues to outpace the state rate; Pennsylvania had regained about 60% of the 1.1 million jobs it lost.
Since April, when the rate stood at a 40-year high of 16.7% before falling by more than 6 percentage points in August to 10.4%, the rate has remained between 7.1% and 7.8% in each of the subsequent months.
Zellers said that’s partly due to enhanced unemployment benefits disincentivizing employees to return to work, and the fact that the total number of job openings hasn’t fully rebounded. He also said many people remain uncomfortable visiting food and retail establishments.
“It’s been a relatively short time
since restrictions have been eased,” Zellers said.
The state report also showed two of 10 major sectors — trade, transportation and utilities; and mining, logging, and construction — saw jobs decline, but the dips were blamed on seasonal factors. Though seasonal nonfarm jobs declined 400 from January’s total, the aggregate in nonfarm jobs rose by 700 jobs on a not-seasonally adjusted basis.
Zellers said February’s data was typical in that the month sees wintry weather slowing construction, and a slowdown in ecommerce shipping leading to fewer warehouse and transportation jobs.
“It would have been a better February
without COVID,” Zellers said. “But even without COVID impacts, the underlying seasonal patterns of the economy are the same.”
In a labor force estimate of 434,600, the state counts 32,500 as out of work, up from 21,000 a year ago. The region’s labor force is the estimated number of residents working or looking for work.
Northampton County had a 7% unemployment rate in February, and Lehigh County’s rate was 8%. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was unchanged at 7.3%.