HARRISBURG, Pa., Nov. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania's seasonally adjusted civilian labor force - the number of people working or looking for work - fell by 27,000 in October to 6,340,000. Resident employment was down 29,000 in October, while resident unemployment was up 2,000 over the month. The Pennsylvania labor force was down 95,000 over the year.

Pennsylvania's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.8 percent in October. The state rate has been at or below the United States' rate - which rose to 10.2 percent in October - for 81 of the past 82 months. Pennsylvania's rate was up 3 percentage points from October 2008, while the U.S. rate was up 3.6 percentage points over the year.

Pennsylvania's seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs count rose by 10,600 jobs in October. The gain in jobs was the second for the state in the past 14 months and was the largest single-month increase since June 2007. Nearly all of the October gain could be attributed to education and health services, which added a seasonally adjusted 11,600 jobs - a near reversal of the 10,100 jobs the sector lost in September. The leisure and hospitality, and government sectors each posted October gains of more than 1,000 jobs.

Pennsylvania jobs were down 3.2 percent since October 2008; nationally, jobs were down 4 percent during the same time 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)

                                                 Change from    Change from
                                                  September       October
                   October  September October       2009            2008
                      2009     2009     2008  volume  percent  volume  percent
    PA
    Civilian Labor
     Force           6,340    6,367    6,435   -27    -0.4%     -95      -1.5%
    Employment       5,779    5,808    6,060   -29    -0.5%    -281      -4.6%
    Unemployment       561      559      375     2     0.4%     186      49.6%
    Rate               8.8      8.8      5.8   0.0     ----     3.0       ----

    U.S.
    Civilian Labor
     Force         153,975  154,006  154,878   -31     0.0%    -903      -0.6%
    Employment     138,275  138,864  144,657  -589    -0.4%  -6,382      -4.4%
    Unemployment    15,700   15,142   10,221   558     3.7%   5,479      53.6%
    Rate              10.2      9.8      6.6   0.4     ----     3.6       ----

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

                                                Change from     Change from
                                                 September       October
                   October  September October      2009           2008
                      2009     2009     2008  volume percent  volume  percent

    Total Nonfarm
      Jobs         5,613.8  5,603.2  5,798.8   10.6    0.2%    -185.0   -3.2%

    Goods Producing
      Industries     817.2    822.2    913.6   -5.0   -0.6%     -96.4  -10.6%

      Mining &
        Logging       23.9     23.7     22.7    0.2    0.8%       1.2    5.3%
      Construction   226.6    228.0    253.4   -1.4   -0.6%     -26.8  -10.6%
      Manufacturing  566.7    570.5    637.5   -3.8   -0.7%     -70.8  -11.1%

    Service Providing
      Industries   4,796.6  4,781.0  4,885.2   15.6    0.3%     -88.6   -1.8%

      Trade,
        Transportation &
        Utilities  1,083.6  1,084.5  1,116.1   -0.9   -0.1%     -32.5   -2.9%
      Information     96.5     97.2    102.1   -0.7   -0.7%      -5.6   -5.5%
      Financial
        Activities   313.8    313.0    330.9    0.8    0.3%     -17.1   -5.2%
      Professional &
        Business
        Services     667.4    667.1    708.9    0.3    0.0%     -41.5   -5.9%
      Education &
        Health
        Services   1,130.7  1,119.1  1,110.7   11.6    1.0%      20.0    1.8%
      Leisure &
        Hospitality  496.4    494.0    505.9    2.4    0.5%      -9.5   -1.9%
      Other Services 251.2    250.8    255.5    0.4    0.2%      -4.3   -1.7%
      Government     757.0    755.3    755.1    1.7    0.2%       1.9    0.3%

    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: November 2009 labor force and nonfarm jobs statistics will be released Dec. 18, 2009.

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry

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