December Jobs Report: Unemployment Down to 4.8%

Written by Matt Cassidy, Contributing Writer

The Department of Labor & Industry released its monthly jobs report today, showing a decrease in unemployment for the fourth straight month and the ninth decline overall in 2014.

The Good News

Pennsylvania’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate declined to 4.8 percent in December, three-tenths of a percentage point lower than November. December’s unemployment rate in the state is the lowest since March 2008.

The unemployment rate in Pennsylvania continues to look much more positive than the national average, which currently stands at 5.6 percent.

Compared to 2013, the unemployment rate in Pennsylvania is down 2.1 percentage points vs. the national rate decline of 1.1 percentage points.

Construction showed the largest year-to-year growth, jumping 4 percent from last December, while mining and logging was up 3.8 percent.

Mediocre News

Pennsylvania’s civilian labor force – the number of people working or looking for work – remained stagnant from the past month. Resident employment was up only 0.2% from November.

The number of non-farm jobs saw a slight increase of 0.1% from the prior month and a total 0.9% year-to-year increase.

Bad News

Pennsylvania’s civilian labor force dropped by 0.9 percent since December 2013 while the national rate increased by 0.7 percent. Meanwhile, only two sectors experienced year-to-year losses; information (down 1.3%) and government (down 0.5%).

January 23rd, 2015 | Posted in Features, Front Page Stories, Top Stories | 6 Comments