Job growth pushed area unemployment down
Gains in the number of education and health service sector jobs helped push area unemployment rates down in September.
Fayette County’s jobless rate fell from 9.6 percent in August to 9.1 percent in September. Fayette’s rate was 9.5 percent in September 2010.
Greene County’s unemployment rates were 7 percent in September, 7.8 percent in August and 7.2 percent in September 2010.
Washington County’s unemployment rates were 7.4 percent in September, 7.8 percent in August and 7.8 percent in September 2010.
Christopher Magaro, an industry and business analyst with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor, reported that over the year, education and health services and trade, transportation and utilities have provided the greatest job growth, while government and leisure and hospitality have experienced the largest employment declines.
According to Department of Labor figures, there also were some minor shifts in the number of people in the labor force in the tri-county area during September.
Fayette County’s labor force fell from 66,300 in August to 66,100 in September. The number of unemployed Fayette residents also fell from 6,300 in August to 6,000 in September.
In Greene County, the labor force totaled 20,100 in September and 20,000 in August, while the unemployed residents fell from 1,500 to 1,400 from August to September.
Washington County’s labor force was 106,700 in August, 106,500 in September and the number of its unemployed residents fell from 8,400 in August to 7,900 in September.
In terms of ranking, Fayette County had the 50th highest jobless rate among all 67 of the state’s counties. Greene County ranked 13th highest and Washington County ranked 20th. The highest unemployment rate in the state in September was 11.5 percent in Cameron County and the lowest was 5.6 percent in Centre County.
In September, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the seven-county Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA) also dropped to 7.4 percent from 7.8 percent in August.
Magaro said it was the first decline after four months of unemployment rate increases.
The local rate remained below Pennsylvania’s rate of 8.3 percent and the United States’ rate of 9.1 percent. Over the year, the PMSA unemployment rate and the national rate were both down .5 percent, while Pennsylvania’s rate was down .2 percent over the same period.
Among the commonwealth’s 14 MSAs, the PMSA remained tied for the fifth lowest unemployment rate in September. Within the PMSA, Butler County had the lowest rate at 6.7 percent, while Fayette County had the highest rate. Counties in the PMSA include Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland.
Also in the PMSA, according to the state report, seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs fell 3,100 in September to 1,140,000. Statewide jobs also experienced declines, down 15,800 to 5,668,900. Jobs in the PMSA were up 12,600 (1.1 percent) from September 2010, while Pennsylvania’s jobs rose 48,300 (.9 percent) from last year’s level.
For the month, goods producers in the PMSA added 200 jobs in September, marking the seventh consecutive month of job growth, Magaro reported.
Durable goods manufacturing provided the only notable over-the-month job movement, he added, with an increase of 300 jobs in September. Over the year, goods producers have added 5,600 jobs, with construction gaining 2,900 jobs, manufacturing rising by 1,700 jobs, and mining and logging adding 1,000 jobs. These all were gains from the 2010.
The number of service-providing jobs in the PMSA also rose 5,800 in September. Education and health services experienced a larger than normal increase in September, adding 8,100 jobs as school employment returned from summer recess. The government supersector showed the second largest over-the-month employment increase, up 7,300.
Growth in the supersector occurred as local government jobs associated with public education and employment at state universities showed seasonal increases.
Leisure and hospitality experienced a seasonal drop, down 2,900 over the month.
Over the year, education and health services added 8,800 jobs, and trade, transportation and utilities added 2,300 jobs. However, government lost 4,600 jobs and leisure and hospitality lost 600 jobs, experiencing the largest employment declines.