The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry released its monthly jobs report today, showing an increase in the unemployment rate by one-tenth of a percentage point during January 2015. This slight hike comes after four consecutive months of decline in the rate.
Good News
Although the state unemployment rate grew from 5.0 percent to 5.1 percent, Pennsylvania’s rate was six-tenths of a percentage point below the U.S. rate of 5.7 percent, which also rose a tenth of a point from December.
The commonwealth fared well in the one-year comparison, dropping by 1.2 percentage points since January 2014. This also came out ahead of the national average which only declined by 0.9 points in the past year.
Over the year, the state’s total nonfarm jobs went up 1.1 percent to 62,400. This growth was almost entirely seen within private industries. The largest gains were in trade, transportation & utilities, education & health services and professional & business services.
Only two of the eleven supersectors defined in this report have declined from a year ago – information and government.
Since December, financial activities posted largest increase with an gain of 2,500.
Mediocre News
The state added about 13,000 to its civilian labor force in January to 6,365,000. Since January 2014, Pennsylvania has actually seen a 0.4 percent decline in its civilian labor force while the national average is up 1.1 percent.
Both total farm jobs and service providing industries saw a 0.1 percent decrease since December while goods producing industries increased but only by 0.3 percent. Goods producing industries was also the higher earner out of the three in the past year rising 1.6 percent.
Bad News
The four-month streak of declining unemployment rates is over.
Total nonfarm jobs dropped by 3,500 in January to 5,822,000. The January dip followed six straight months of gains in this category.
Education & health services showed the biggest decline in January sliding down 7,300 from a record high level in December.
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3 Responses
The slight uptick in the unemployment rate is actually likely more or less a good thing – this report is unclear, but many reports indicate slight increases due to individuals re-joining the labor force as labor markets strengthen (people who had stopped looking for work are not counted). Unemployment levels are approaching levels comparable to most of the 2000s and the mid-’90s. Full employment still requires some unemployment for optimum efficiency as you always want some people in transitory positions moving to better suited employment opportunities, so a zero percent unemployment rate is actually economically inefficient and undesirable.
From a policy perspective, STEM industries still suffer from shortages of skilled labor, so it would be wise to encourage people to pursue training and education in those areas. The “gold collar” jobs are also typically high demand (particularly for quality workers) and compensate accordingly.
Are these figures seasonally adjusted? What does the retail sector show? Retail usual;ly lays off people in January. And Dave,did you notice this part: “The state added about 13,000 to its civilian labor force in January to 6,365,000.”
The real unemployment rate is much higher than what is reported. Unemployed people, those that have lost their jobs, retired, gave up, etc are not counted.