HARRISBURG, Pa., March 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania's seasonally adjusted civilian labor force -- the number of people working or looking for work -- rose by 28,000 residents in January to 6,421,000, the highest level in nine months. Resident employment rose by 22,000 in January -- the primary reason for the labor force increase -- while unemployment saw a gain of 4,000. The Pennsylvania labor force was down 37,000 from January 2009.

Pennsylvania's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.8 percent in January. The state remained below the national rate of 9.7 percent in January; the state rate has been at or below the national rate for 82 of the past 85 months. Both the state rate and national rate were up 2.0 percentage points from the January 2009 rate.

Pennsylvania's seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs count rose by 9,600 jobs in January with job growth concentrated in two supersectors. Education and health services and leisure and hospitality were up 4,500 and 3,800, respectively. Manufacturing was down 2,300 jobs.

Pennsylvania jobs were down 143,300, or 2.5 percent, since January 2009.  The United States' job count was down by slightly more than 4 million jobs, or 3.0 percent over the same period.

Media contact: Troy Thompson, 717-787-7530

Editor's Note: A breakdown of Pennsylvania's employment statistics follows.

For a more detailed breakdown of seasonally adjusted jobs data at the sector level, please contact the Center for Workforce Information & Analysis at 1-877-4WF-DATA, or visit www.paworkstats.state.pa.us.

Note: February 2010 labor force and nonfarm jobs statistics will be released March 18, 2010.

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry

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