(File Photo: Source for Photo: FILE—In this file photo from May 5, 2021, a vehicle speeds by a hiring sign offering a $500 bonus outside a McDonalds restaurant, in Cranberry Township, Butler County, Pa. Pennsylvania will resume work search requirements in July for hundreds of thousands of people receiving unemployment compensation, a top Wolf administration official said Monday, May 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)

(Reported by Danielle Smith of Keystone News Service)

(Harrisburg, PA) A new report shows Pennsylvania’s labor market is healthy and strong, with 139,000 more jobs than in early 2020 and a steady unemployment rate of 3.6 percent. The report says since 2022, the Pennsylvania labor market has offered robust job opportunities to workers. Carrie Amann with the Pennsylvania Workforce Development Association says her group’s research assesses how the state’s economy stands now, compared to four years ago and pre-pandemic. She stresses the need for targeted strategies to help more people find and keep jobs. Amann says economic struggles for people who aren’t college graduates are in the spotlight, with debates on trade, immigration and apprenticeships gaining traction. In Pennsylvania, among working-age men, one in seven is unemployed, highlighting the need for stronger workforce programs and job creation efforts.