Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was down one-tenth of a percentage point from July to 4.9 percent, according to the Department of Labor and Industry Friday.
The Commonwealth’s rate remained above that of the United States, which rose one-tenth of a percentage point in August to 4.4 percent. Over the year, the Pennsylvania rate declined by six-tenths of a percentage point while the national rate was down by one-half of a percentage point.
Pennsylvania’s civilian labor force was down 30,000 over the month to 6,428,000. Resident employment and unemployment both declined over the month, but since last August employment was up by 18,000 while unemployment shrank by 40,000.
Pennsylvania’s nonfarm jobs count was down 8,000 from July’s record high to 5,953,700 in August. Jobs were down in seven of the eleven supersectors with the largest movement in education & health services (down 5,300).
The largest increase was a gain of 2,100 leisure & hospitality jobs, pushing the supersector to a new record high for the third consecutive month.
Total nonfarm jobs in Pennsylvania were up 1.0 percent from August 2016, while jobs in the United States were up 1.4 percent. Six supersectors in the Commonwealth added jobs over the year, with three adding more than 20,000.
The largest increase over the past 12 months was in leisure and hospitality (up 25,000), while the largest decline was in government (down 9,600).
