HARRISBURG, Pa., Dec. 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania's seasonally adjusted civilian labor force -- the number of people working or looking for work -- decreased by 12,000 in November to 6,328,000. Resident unemployment dropped 22,000 in November, while employment was up 10,000. The Pennsylvania labor force was down 105,000 over the year.

Pennsylvania's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent in November, down four-tenths of a percentage point from the revised October rate of 8.9 percent - the first drop in the state unemployment rate since March 2007. Pennsylvania remained below the United States' unemployment rate, which fell two-tenths of a percentage point to 10 percent in November. Pennsylvania's rate was up 2.4 percentage points from November 2008, while the U.S. rate was up 3.2 percentage points over the year.

Pennsylvania's seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs count fell by 10,200 jobs in November. Of Pennsylvania's 11 sectors, eight saw a reduction in jobs in November, with the largest declines in professional & business services, leisure & hospitality, and government. Education & health services reached a new record high job count of 1,133,300, while construction added 1,900 jobs - its biggest gain in 22 months.

Pennsylvania jobs were down 167,200, or 2.9 percent, since November 2008. Nationally, jobs were down 3.5 percent over the same period.

Media contact: Troy Thompson, 717-787-7530

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

                         Current Labor Force Statistics
                               Seasonally Adjusted
                              -------------------
                                 (in thousands)

                   November   October   November
                        2009      2009       2008
    PA
    Civilian
     Labor Force       6,328     6,340      6,433
    Employment         5,788     5,778      6,040
    Unemployment         540       562        393
    Rate                 8.5       8.9        6.1

    U.S.
    Civilian
     Labor Force     153,877   153,975    154,620
    Employment       138,502   138,275    144,144
    Unemployment      15,375    15,700     10,476
    Rate                10.0      10.2        6.8

                       Change from         Change from
                      October 2009        November 2008
                   volume   percent   volume   percent
    PA
    Civilian
     Labor Force       -12     -0.2%     -105     -1.6%
    Employment          10      0.2%     -252     -4.2%
    Unemployment       -22     -3.9%      147     37.4%
    Rate              -0.4     ----       2.4     ----

    U.S.
    Civilian
     Labor Force       -98     -0.1%     -743     -0.5%
    Employment         227      0.2%   -5,642     -3.9%
    Unemployment      -325     -2.1%    4,899     46.8%
    Rate              -0.2     ----       3.2     ----

             Pennsylvania Nonagricultural Wage and Salary Employment
                               Seasonally Adjusted
                              -------------------
                                 (in thousands)

                       November   October   November
                            2009      2009       2008

    Total
     Nonfarm
     Jobs                5,605.2   5,615.4    5,772.4

    Goods
     Producing
     Industries            821.7     821.1      902.9
      Mining &
       Logging              24.0      24.0       22.7
      Construction         230.6     228.7      248.0
      Manufacturing        567.1     568.4      632.2

    Service
     Providing
     Industries          4,783.5   4,794.3    4,869.5
      Trade,
       Transportation
       & Utilities       1,082.9   1,083.3    1,111.2
      Information           95.4      96.5      102.1
      Financial
       Activities          311.8     312.9      329.7
      Professional
       & Business
       Services            663.6     668.1      704.3
      Education &
       Health
       Services          1,133.3   1,129.9    1,111.6
      Leisure &
       Hospitality         492.2     495.4      502.5
      Other
       Services            249.9     250.6      254.7
      Government           754.4     757.6      753.4

                           Change from         Change from
                          October 2009        November 2008
                       volume   percent  volume   percent

    Total
     Nonfarm
     Jobs                -10.2     -0.2%  -167.2      -2.9%

    Goods
     Producing
     Industries            0.6      0.1%   -81.2      -9.0%
      Mining &
       Logging             0.0      0.0%     1.3       5.7%
      Construction         1.9      0.8%   -17.4      -7.0%
      Manufacturing       -1.3     -0.2%   -65.1     -10.3%

    Service
     Providing
     Industries          -10.8     -0.2%   -86.0      -1.8%
      Trade,
       Transportation
       & Utilities        -0.4      0.0%   -28.3      -2.5%
      Information         -1.1     -1.1%    -6.7      -6.6%
      Financial
       Activities         -1.1     -0.4%   -17.9      -5.4%
      Professional
       & Business
       Services           -4.5     -0.7%   -40.7      -5.8%
      Education &
       Health
       Services            3.4      0.3%    21.7       2.0%
      Leisure &
       Hospitality        -3.2     -0.6%   -10.3      -2.0%
      Other
       Services           -0.7     -0.3%    -4.8      -1.9%
      Government          -3.2     -0.4%     1.0       0.1%

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: December 2009 labor force and nonfarm jobs statistics will be released Jan. 22, 2010.

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry

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RELATED LINKS
http://www.paworkstats.state.pa.us