Early school closings impact May unemployment rates
A normal seasonal drop in education jobs helped push area unemployment rates higher in May. Fayette County’s jobless rate rose from 10.1 to 10.5 percent from April to May. Fayette’s unemployment rate in May 2009 was 8.9 percent.
Greene County’s unemployment rates remained unchanged at 8.4 percent for April and May. Greene’s May 2009 unemployment rate was 7.4 percent.
Washington County’s jobless rates were 8.9 percent in April and May and 7.6 percent in May 2009.
Meanwhile, in May, the seven-county Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA) seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose .1 percent 8.6 percent. Pennsylvania’s rate was also up .1 percent to 9.1 percent. The unemployment rate in the PMSA was up 1.4 percent from last May, while Pennsylvania’s rate was up 1.1 percent over the year, according to Lauren Nimal, Pennsylvania Department of Labor industry and business analyst.
Nimal explained that while there were no unusual changes in the labor market, most of the loss was due to “an educational drop at the end of the school year.
“It appeared to be a little heavier in May than normal because a lot of schools ended earlier in the month. You have those people dropping out of the employment count but they are not joining the ranks of the unemployed,” she explained.
Nimal added the drop in education jobs came during the key week when the Department of Labor gathers its data for the monthly employment report.
“That could have been particularly what pushed up the unemployment rate,” she said.
“We did see quite a few areas where there was a slight increase in the unemployment rate,” she added.
Nimal said in the PMSA, which includes Fayette, Washington, Westmoreland, Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver and Butler counties, “there was a little extra drop in education, but otherwise, not much to point at.”
She said the only other thing that affected employment in the PMSA “was leisure and hospitality, which showed an earlier increase but was a little weaker than a typical May. The last few months have been stronger (in leisure and hospitality) so some of the firms added jobs earlier in the spring. We will probably see more in June in that category,” Nimal said.
“The only other big movement was in federal government. There was an increase in jobs due to hiring census workers,” Nimal said, adding there were 2,800 jobs listed in May in the PMSA. “Those are short-term jobs so we will probably see those go away as quickly as they came,” she added.
Nimal said Beaver was the only county in the PMSA that experienced an unemployment rate decline in May, down slightly to 8.7 percent. The other six counties each experienced increases in their unemployment rates. Butler County’s unemployment rate remained the lowest in the area at 7.9 percent, while the highest was 10.5 percent in Fayette County. Unemployment rates within Pennsylvania’s 67 counties ranged from 6.7 percent in Centre County to 14.8 percent in Cameron County.
Among all 67 of Pennsylvania’s counties, Fayette had the 52nd highest jobless rate, Washington County had the 22nd highest and Greene County had the 15th highest, according to state Department of Labor figures.
Nimal also said seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs in the PMSA increased for the third straight month, up 1,200 from April to 1,121,300. “The last time the area saw three consecutive increases was January through March 2006. Pennsylvania also posted its third consecutive increase, up 19,500 in May. Since May 2009, jobs in the PMSA have declined 1,100. Statewide jobs showed an over-the-year increase for the first time September 2008,” she said.
Goods producing industries in the PMSA added 2,100 jobs in May. “Virtually all of the gain was from a typical spring construction increase. Manufacturing declined 200 due to losses within durable goods. Non durable goods increased for the third consecutive month, up 100 to 22,800. This was the first time since April to June 2002 that the area’s non durable manufacturers added jobs for three straight months,” Nimal said.
However, goods producing jobs declined 3,700 over the year.
Manufacturing and construction were both below their year-ago levels, Nimal reported, but both of their over-the-year deficits have been steadily shrinking since late 2009.
Service providing jobs were up to 982,800 in May, an increase of 8,000. Nimal said most service providing industries gained jobs from April.
Professional and business services expanded by 1,600 jobs to 154,700, matching the record May increase. Similar to private educational services, state government dropped 2,100 jobs in May due to the end of the spring semester at local state universities.
In May, service providing industries were 600 jobs below the year-ago level.
“The majority of the decline was in private service providing as Census gains created a significant 12-month increase for government. Professional and business services showed an over-the-year increase for the first time since November 2008,” Nimal said.