(Harrisburg, PA) The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) today released its preliminary employment situation report for September 2024.
According to this report, Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was unchanged over the month at 3.4% in September. This was the 12th consecutive month with an identical rate – the longest streak on record (back to 1976). The rate remained well under the U.S. unemployment rate which fell by one-tenth of a percentage point from its August level to 4.1%.
The Commonwealth’s unemployment rate was one-tenth of a percentage point above its September 2023 level of 3.3%, while the national rate was up three-tenths of a percentage point over the year.
Pennsylvania’s civilian labor force – the estimated number of residents working or looking for work – was down 24,000 over the month to 6,556,000 in September. Resident employment (-23,000) accounted for most of the labor force decline.
Pennsylvania’s total nonfarm jobs were up 6,800 over the month to a record high of 6,205,000, setting the 14th consecutive record high for Pennsylvania’s jobs count. Jobs increased from August in five of the 11 industry supersectors. The largest supersector movement was a gain of 6,100 in leisure & hospitality which reached a record high. Education & health services reached a record high for the 16th consecutive month.
Over the year, total nonfarm jobs were up 102,700 with gains in six of the 11 supersectors. Education & health services (+59,800) had the largest volume over-the-year gain.
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)