The Commonwealth’s rate stayed above the U.S. rate of 4.1 percent, which was also unchanged from February. Since March 2017, the Pennsylvania unemployment rate declined by two-tenths of a percentage point.
The estimated number of Pennsylvania residents working or looking for work, known as the civilian labor force, was down 18,000 over the month to 6,393,000 because of declines in both employment and unemployment. Resident employment and unemployment were also each down over the past twelve months, by 26,000 and 20,000, respectively.
The estimated number of jobs in Pennsylvania, referred to as total nonfarm jobs, was up 2,700 from February to a record high of 6,004,600. This was the twelfth record high in a row. Jobs were up in seven of the 11 industry supersectors.
For the second month in a row, education & health services experienced the largest gain. Education & health services and professional & business services both reached new record highs in March.
Since March 2017, total nonfarm jobs in Pennsylvania were up 1.4 percent. During this same timeframe, nine supersectors in the commonwealth added jobs. The largest volume increase over the past 12 months was in education & health services, up 35,000, while the largest drop was in government, down 2,400.
