At 4.7 percent, Pa. unemployment falls to 10-year low

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pennsylvania’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell onetenth of a percentage point to 4.7 percent in October, the lowest point seen in the Commonwealth in about 10 years, according to data released Friday.

There are signs, however, that the labor force is not as strong as it was in November 2007: Falling unemployment appears to be driven by people giving up looking for work and dropping out of the workforce altogether — rather than finding jobs.

Over the year, the state’s labor force shrunk by 56,000 people — the largest annual drop recorded in the state in three years, according to the report released by the state Department of Labor and Industry. That means the number of people either employed or taking actions to look for work dropped by that much since October 2016.

Friday’s report shows the number of people counted as unemployed fell by 58,000 over the year to 298,000 in October — also about a 10-year low.

But the count of people who actually held jobs increased by just 1,000 over the past year.

At the heart of the numbers is a troubling imbalance that economists and workforce officials have been trying to figure out both statewide and in the Pittsburgh region.

Meanwhile, annual job growth in October held steady at 1.1 percent and remained lower than the U.S. job growth rate of 1.4 percent. Employers across the state had opened up about 65,800 more jobs since October 2016, according to seasonally adjusted figures.

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

Construction led the way with 3.5 percent job growth since October 2016, adding 8,300 positions.

Professional and business services jumped 3 percent, adding 24,500 payroll positions, and leisure and hospitality, a hiring bright spot, added 17,600 new jobs, also a 3 percent jump.

On the other side, mining and logging — which has recently seen annual job cuts as high as 20 percent — showed a 3 percent job cut, shedding 1,300 positions. The information sector lost 1,900 jobs, or 2 percent of its workforce over the year. Manufacturing cut 3,600 jobs, or about 0.6 percent of its workforce.

The state’s unemployment rate had remained virtually unchanged through much of this year, hovering near 5 percent.

Since the summer, the rate has started to fall. Economists typically look at several months of data, so it’s unclear how persistent the gap will be between people looking for work and people finding jobs.

At this point, the state’s jobless rate sits significantly higher than the U.S. rate of 4.1 percent in October.

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 October are due out on Nov. 29.