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March Jobs Report: Unemployment Falls To 6%

Unemployment-300x225March brought yet another consecutive month of job growth and a drop in the unemployment rate.

This month, the unemployment rate in Pennsylvania fell to 6%. The rate has fallen by .2% each month of 2014, starting the year with 6.4%.

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

The good news:

The rate speaks for itself this month. The national unemployment rate is still 6.7%, so Pennsylvania’s 6.0% looks even better.

As with each previous month of good jobs news, Corbett re-election campaign sought compliments for sitting Governor.

“Governor Corbett’s ‘more jobs and less taxes’ policies are putting Pennsylvanians back to work,” Gleason said. “When Governor Corbett took office, he was faced with a $4.2 billion budget deficit and an unemployment rate above 8 percent. Just three years after taking office, Governor Corbett has delivered three on-time and balanced budgets and lowered the unemployment rate to a five-year low. Tom Corbett policies are creating jobs and growing our economy,” PA GOP Chairman Rob Gleason said. “Today’s jobs announcement is great news for the Commonwealth and its citizens, and we have Governor Corbett and Lieutenant Governor Cawley to thank for that success.”

Former Governor and Attorney General DIck Thornburgh also lauded Corbett’s economic accomplishments.

“Pennsylvania continues to head in the right direction thanks to Governor Tom Corbett who has kept taxes low and helped the private sector put Pennsylvanians back to work,” stated Thornburgh. “Ginny and I have been proud to watch Tom lead our Commonwealth, and his effectiveness over these past three years was seen yet again today as unemployment continues to decline. We know he isn’t done with the job at hand, but our progress and bright future are certain under Governor Tom Corbett.”

There was consistent growth across sectors, and the biggest decrease in any job category was government, which fell 1.3%.

Mediocre news

For the second month in a row, Pennsylvania ranks 47th in a 12-month-moving-average of job growth as compared to the other states of the union.

We improved from 48th in January, and at this point last year, the Keystone State was 49th.

“These latest job numbers just further prove that Tom Corbett’s economic record has been nothing but a disappointment. Pennsylvania’s workforce is now 46,000 less than it was a year ago, we are ranked 47th in job creation, and we are lagging behind our neighboring states,” PA Dems spokesman Marc Eisenstein said. “Tom Corbett’s mishandling of Pennsylvania’s economy, $1 billion cut to education, and refusal to expand Medicaid will ensure Pennsylvania elects a Democratic governor in November.”

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