Aug 31, 2008 By James Pletcher Jr. 4 min read

Area unemployment rose for the fourth straight month in July and is significantly higher than the same period in 2007 thanks to a slowdown in job growth. However, the unemployment increase in July was the smallest since April, according to Lauren Nimal, industry and business analyst for the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry Center for Workforce and Information Analysis.

Locally, Fayette County’s jobless rate remained nearly the same, rising .1 percent from 6.6 percent in June to 6.7 percent in July. However, Fayette County’s unemployment rate in July 2007 was 5.9 percent.

Greene County’s jobless rate also remained virtually unchanged, falling to 5.8 percent in July from 5.9 percent in June. The number of unemployed Greene County residents was 1,100 in both June and July.

Washington County’s unemployment rates were 5.3 percent in July, 5.2 percent in June and 4.6 percent in July 2007.

In the seven-county Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA) the seasonally adjusted jobless rate rose from 5 percent in June to 5.1 percent in July. It was 5 percent in July 2007.

“Over the year, the unemployment rate was up eight-tenths of a percentage point. The rate has been at least one-half of a percentage point above the year-ago level throughout 2008,’ Nimal said.

By comparison, Nimal reported the rate was below those of the nation (5.7 percent) and Pennsylvania (5.4 percent), which both increased .2 percent point from June.

In terms of ranking, Fayette had the highest jobless rate in the PMSA, which includes Butler, Beaver, Armstrong, Allegheny, Washington and Westmoreland counties.

Statewide, Fayette County unemployment rate ranked 59th highest out of all 67 counties in July.

Greene County’s rate ranked 40th and Washington County’s rate ranked 27th highest of 67 counties in July.

Within the PMSA, Nimal said, Butler County continued to hold the lowest unemployment rate despite rising .2 percent to 4.7 percent in July. The only county within the PMSA to show an unemployment rate decrease was Armstrong, which fell .1 percent to 5.5 percent. Out of Pennsylvania’s 14 metropolitan areas, the PMSA posted the sixth-lowest unemployment rate.

Meanwhile, the slight change in employment came from a drop in the labor force, which fell 4,600 to 1,209,100 in the PMSA, Nimal said. Unemployment rose for the fourth consecutive month, although July’s movement was the smallest of the recent increases, Nimal added.

For the year, however, slowing job growth helped push area jobless rates higher.

“Basically, unemployment grew at a faster rate than employment. That seems to be the case around most of the state. Most areas have shown quite a bit of increase over the year,’ Nimal said.

“There is still job growth. Total nonfarm jobs in the PMSA are 4,300 over last July but that is a lot less job growth than the region had been showing. Last July, we were more like 10,000 over the year-ago level. There was just a faster pace of growth. Jobs are being added but just not at the same level that they had been,’ Nimal said.

In the PMSA, Nimal said, “Total nonfarm jobs declined to 1,150,200 in July, a seasonal drop mostly related to the end of the school year. Over the year, total nonfarm jobs were up 4,300. The PMSA has been posting over-the-year gains since February 2006.’

Goods producers expanded their payrolls by 300 to 165,600 during July. Gains were concentrated in construction, Nimal said, with specialty trade contractors adding 600 jobs.

“The construction increase was muted by manufacturing losses, mostly from durable goods industries,’ she added.

From July 2007, goods producing jobs dropped by 1,500. Nimal said there were small gains in construction, natural resources and mining, but they did little to counter an over-the-year loss of 1,900 manufacturing jobs.

“Service-providing industry jobs dipped 16,600 in July, taking jobs back below the 1 million mark to 984,600. The bulk of this drop was due to education-related industries as the school year came to an end. Local government educational services decreased 12,300, private sector educational services dropped 1,100, and transportation and warehousing (which includes school buses) dropped 2,700.

“Aside from the school-related losses, the only sizeable decreases were 1,000 in accommodation and food services and 800 in retail trade. Professional and business services was the best performing supersector in the PMSA, matching the record July growth with an increase of 1,400 jobs,’ Nimal said.

In other areas of the labor force, Nimal said service providers gained 5,800 jobs from July 2007. “Although half of the service-providing supersectors lost jobs over the year, the posted losses were outnumbered by large gains in education and health services, professional and business services and leisure and hospitality.’