(Credit for Photo: Photo Provided with Release Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Harrisburg, PA) The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) released its preliminary employment situation report for July of 2026 today.

The unemployment rate in Pennsylvania was down two-tenths of a percentage point over the month to 3.9 percent in July, which is the first time the rate has been below 4.0 percent since October of 2024. The Pennsylvania unemployment rate was two-tenths of a percentage point below the unemployment rate in the United States, which declined a tenth of a point over the month to 4.1 percent.  

The unemployment rate in Pennsylvania has declined by one-half of a percentage point from its July of 2025 level of 4.4 percent. 

The United States employment rate has declined two-tenths over the past 12 months, meaning that Pennsylvania has outperformed the national average over the past year.