Pennsylvania’s Unemployment Rate Increases in December 2009

On January 21 Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry (L&I) reported that state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 8.9 percent in December, up four-tenths of a percentage point from November. The state rate remained below the national unemployment rate, which remained at 10 percent in December. Pennsylvania’s rate has been at or below the national rate for 83 of the past 84 months. The statewide rate was up 2.5 percentage points from December 2008 while the U.S. rate was up 2.6 percentage points over the year. Pennsylvania’s seasonally adjusted civilian labor force – the number of people working or looking for work – decreased by 19,000 in December to 6,310,000.  Resident employment dropped 37,000 in December, while unemployment was up 19,000. The Pennsylvania labor force was down 131,000 from December 2008. Pennsylvania jobs were down 150,300, or 2.6 percent, since December 2008.  Nationally, jobs were down 3.1 percent over the same period. FMI: See www.state.pa.us.