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December Jobs Report: Unemployment Falls Again

Unemployment-300x225There was great news for the Commonwealth in this month’s jobs report in the unemployment rate; news that will be music to the ears of the Governor Corbett campaign.

But comparatively, the state fell further behind in the country, and the Democrats are ready to blame Corbett.

The state job numbers will play a major role in the 2014 campaign and so this is an ongoing PoliticsPA feature.

The good news:

Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate fell to 6.9% in December, down from 7.3% in November. This is the lowest rate in five years.

This is the lowest rate it’s been in five years and according to the Department of Labor and Industry, it was the largest one-month decline since July 1983.

“Governor Corbett is keeping his promises, holding the line on new taxes, restoring fiscal sanity and putting Pennsylvanians back to work,” Corbett campaign spokesman Billy Pitman said. “As our economy continues to grow, more jobs are created and unemployment continues to fall, Governor Corbett is committed to making the right decisions to keep moving Pennsylvania forward.”

Pennsylvania’s civilian labor force – the number of people working or looking for work –was down 15,000 in December to 6,443,000.

The mediocre news:

Construction jobs took a 3.3% hit this month, and Information jobs had a 2.2% decrease.

Other sectors made modest gains.

The bad news:

Despite the new low in the state’s unemployment rate, the state didn’t do so well comparatively.

The national unemployment rate fell to 6.7% in December, meaning Pennsylvania’s is still higher.

For the past two months, Pennsylvania was 46th in job creation (when using a 12 month moving average). This month, the Commonwealth fell to 47th.

“This month’s jobs report further proves that Tom Corbett’s economy is failing.  Pennsylvania is now ranked 48th in the nation in total job growth, 47th in the nation in private sector job growth, and Pennsylvania had the 2nd largest decrease in employment last month,” PA Dems spokesman Marc Eisenstein said. “Next November Pennsylvanians will elect a Democratic governor who will make sure Pennsylvania is once again a leader in job growth.”

We still beat Alabama, Wyoming and Alaska. So, there’s that.

View the full report here.

 

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