By Danielle Smith, Keystone State News Connection
A new report showed 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%.
The report noted since 2022, the Pennsylvania labor market has offered robust job opportunities to workers.
Carrie Amann, executive director of the Pennsylvania Workforce Development Association, said her group’s research assesses how the state’s economy stands now, compared to four years ago and pre-pandemic. She stressed the need for targeted strategies to help more people find and keep jobs.
“When we look at available jobs and workers, we’re seeing a rebalancing,” Amann explained. “What that means is, for every one job in Pennsylvania, we have returned to one worker looking for that one available job. Historically, over the last two years or so, we’ve had about more jobs than available people looking for that job.”
Amann pointed out economic struggles for people who are not 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.
Amann described Pennsylvania’s job picture as low unemployment and high workforce participation, especially among historically disadvantaged groups. She added the state is seeing encouraging job gains for Black and Hispanic workers, a group that had seen a peak unemployment rate of over 17%.
“Over the last three years, that unemployment rate has dropped 13 percentage points,” Amann reported. “From 17% in 2020 to 4.1% unemployment in 2023 for Black workers in Pennsylvania is significant growth and opportunity for that population.”
The report found unemployment rates are lower in every county and every Local Workforce Development Area than before the pandemic, with the largest drop in unemployment in the western half of the state.
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Source: bctv
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