Area unemployment rates fall
September unemployment rates fell in Fayette and surrounding counties thanks in part to students leaving summer jobs and returning to school. Fayette’s jobless rates were 5.9 percent in September; 6.7 percent in August; and 5.1 percent in September 2001.
“The region’s labor force and unemployment were both down from August,’ Michele Hiester, Pennsylvania Department of Labor analyst, said in her monthly report.
“And more residents than expected were employed in September, when compared to data not adjusted for seasonality,’ she said.
While that may have been the case in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA), a six-county region, Fayette’s jobless rate fell mostly because of a drop in the number of people in its labor force, most likely students going back to school.
Fayette County reported 58,800 people in its labor force in August, of which 54,900 were employed and 3,900 were not. In September, Fayette had 57,400 people in its labor force, of which 54,100 were employed and 3,400 were not.
Hiester said that in the PMSA trade reduced its payrolls by 3,100 jobs. “Wholesalers dropped 600 while retailers receded by 2,500 jobs. Declines were predominant in restaurants and food stores as many students left summer jobs to return to schools.’
Greene County’s jobless rate also fell, from 6 percent in August to 4.7 percent in September, after 100 people left the labor force.
Hiester said the count of employed people in Greene rose slightly but due to rounding out numbers remained at 15,300 in September. Over the year, Greene employment is down by 300 jobs reflecting loses in local mining.
“There were 200 fewer unemployed residents in September pulling the unemployment rate down to 4.7 percent. Many of these previously unemployed residents likely left the labor force by choosing to no longer look for work. Unemployment was in line with September levels of last year (4.6 percent in September 2001) at 800 total unemployed in Greene County,’ she added. Greene County added 300 more non-agricultural jobs from August to September due to gains in education services and government jobs as schools began the fall session, Hiester said. “Minute increases in trade pushed jobs up,’ she added. However, the number of jobs in Greene remained below last year’s level, she said, due to reductions in mining.
Jobless rates in neighboring counties were:
Westmoreland: 4.5 percent in September, 5.2 percent in August and 4.2 percent in September 2001.
Washington: 5.1 percent in September, 5.5 percent in August and 4.4 percent in September 2001.
Meanwhile, the jobless rate in the PMSA, which includes Fayette, Washington, Westmoreland, Allegheny, Beaver and Butler counties, fell from 5.1 to 4.9 percent from August to September.
“There were 1,900 fewer employed residents and 7,500 more unemployed,’ Hiester said, in the PMSA from month to month. However, there were 5,600 more people in the PMSA labor force for the year. Hiester said the PMSA added jobs by about .5 percent in September thanks to slight gains in factories, transportation and utilities, services and government.