Pennsylvania's Employment Situation: September 2009

HARRISBURG, Pa., Oct. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania's seasonally adjusted civilian labor force -- the number of people working or looking for work -- rose by 9,000 in September to 6,368,000. Employment was unchanged in September, while resident unemployment rose by 9,000. The Pennsylvania labor force was down 55,000 from September 2008.

Pennsylvania's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was up one-tenth of a percentage point to 8.8 percent in September. The state rate remained below the United States' unemployment rate, which rose one-tenth of a point to 9.8 percent. Pennsylvania's rate was up 3.2 percentage points from September 2008, while the U.S. rate was up 3.6 percentage points in the 12-month period.

Pennsylvania's seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs count dropped by 10,300 jobs in September. The majority of the job losses were among service providing industries, however, the Professional and Business Services sector added 2,700 jobs.

Pennsylvania job count was down 198,100, or 3.4 percent, since September 2008. Nationally, jobs were down 4.2 percent over 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 August  September  August 2009   September 2008
                      2009    2009     2008    volume percent  volume percent

    PA
    Civilian Labor
     Force           6,368    6,359   6,423       9   0.1%      -55   -0.9%
    Employment       5,809    5,809   6,063       0   0.0%     -254   -4.2%
    Unemployment       559      550     360       9   1.6%      199   55.3%
    Rate               8.8      8.7     5.6     0.1   ----      3.2    ----

    U.S.
    Civilian Labor
     Force         154,006  154,577 154,621    -571  -0.4%     -615   -0.4%
    Employment     138,864  139,649 145,029    -785  -0.6%   -6,165   -4.3%
    Unemployment    15,142   14,928   9,592     214   1.4%    5,550   57.9%
    Rate               9.8      9.7     6.2     0.1   ----      3.6   ----





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

                                                  Change from    Change from
                       September August September August 2009   September 2008
                         2009     2009    2008   volume percent volume percent

    Total Nonfarm Jobs  5,605.0  5,615.3 5,803.1  -10.3 -0.2%   -198.1  -3.4%

    Goods Producing
     Industries           820.9    822.9   917.0  -2.0  -0.2%    -96.1 -10.5%
    Mining & Logging       23.7     23.7    22.3   0.0   0.0%      1.4   6.3%
    Construction          227.9    229.1   252.5  -1.2  -0.5%    -24.6  -9.7%
    Manufacturing         569.3    570.1   642.2  -0.8  -0.1%    -72.9 -11.4%

    Service Providing
     Industries         4,784.1  4,792.4 4,886.1  -8.3  -0.2%   -102.0  -2.1%
    Trade,
     Transportation
     & Utilities        1,085.5  1,088.8 1,127.3  -3.3  -0.3%    -41.8  -3.7%
    Information            97.5     96.5   103.9   1.0   1.0%     -6.4  -6.2%
    Financial Activities  312.3    312.8   329.0  -0.5  -0.2%    -16.7  -5.1%
     Professional &
     Business Services    667.1    664.4   708.2   2.7   0.4%    -41.1  -5.8%
    Education & Health
     Services           1,122.4  1,129.2 1,104.3  -6.8  -0.6%     18.1   1.6%
    Leisure &
     Hospitality          494.7    494.6   504.5   0.1   0.0%     -9.8  -1.9%
    Other Services        251.0    250.8   254.7   0.2   0.1%     -3.7  -1.5%
    Government            753.6    755.3   754.2  -1.7  -0.2%     -0.6  -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: October 2009 labor force and nonfarm jobs statistics will be released Nov. 20, 2009.

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry

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