County Unemployment Rate at 8.4%
Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate decreased slightly from November’s rate, down to 5.6% according to data recently released by the PA Department of Labor & Industry.
The rate last month was 5.7%, and 5.8% for the month of October. The state’s unemployment rate has been hovering near this mark for some time. Unemployment levels are the lowest they have been in Pennsylvania since May of 2016.
However, the state’s labor force participation rate decreased by two-tenths to a seasonally-adjusted 63.2%. Employment was down by 12,000 individuals during December, marking the first employment decrease in four months and the largest since July. Despite this, the unemployment level was still 70,000 individuals above the recent low set in December of 2016.