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

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

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

L&I said the state’s unemployment rate held steady at 4.2% in April. 

The rate was one-tenth of a percentage point below the national unemployment rate, which also remained unchanged at 4.3%, according to the report. 

Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate matched its April 2025 level of 4.2%, while the U.S. rate was up one-tenth of a percentage point from a year earlier. 

The state’s civilian labor force — the estimated number of residents working or looking for work — increased by 14,000 over the month to 6,607,000. Employment accounted for the gain, while the number of unemployed residents held steady.