(WJET/WFXP/YourErie.com) — Pennsylvania’s unemployment remains at a record low once again for the month of August according to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry (L&I).
On Friday, the department released its preliminary unemployment situation report for August 2023.
According to the report, not only did the Commonwealth maintain its record-low unemployment rate of 3.5%, but it also remains lower than the national average, which increased to 3.8% in August.
Pennsylvania’s civilian labor force, the estimated number of people working or looking for work, saw an increase of 1,000 from July while resident employment increased by 6,000. Unemployment also fell by 4,000.
Total nonfarm jobs also reached a new record high of 6,164,500 in August after seeing an increase of 15,800, marking eight straight months of a record all-time high number of jobs.
Eight of 11 industry supersectors saw increases, with education and health services seeing the largest increase with 7,400 added jobs. Construction and trade, transportation and utilities also rose to record-high levels in August.
Total nonfarm jobs are up 153,800 over the past year with all 11 supersectors gaining jobs with education & health services seeing the largest increase with 50,000 jobs added. A full statistical breakdown of changes can be seen on the charts below.
More information on Pennsylvania labor statistics is available on the L&I website.
Current Labor Force Statistics (seasonally adjusted in thousands)
| August 2023 | July 2023 | August 2022 | Volume change from July 2023 | Percent change from July 2023 | Volume change from July 2022 | Percent change from July 2022 | |
| PA | |||||||
| Civilian Labor Force | 6,499 | 6,498 | 6,476 | 1 | 0.0% | 23 | 0.4% |
| Employment | 6,273 | 6,267 | 6,197 | 6 | 0.1% | 76 | 1.2% |
| Unemployment | 226 | 230 | 279 | -4 | -1.7% | -53 | -19.0% |
| Rate | 3.5 | 3.5 | 4.3 | 0.0 | —- | -0.8 | —- |
| U.S. | |||||||
| Civilian Labor Force | 167,839 | 167,103 | 164,714 | 736 | 0.4% | 3,125 | 1.9% |
| Employment | 161,484 | 161,262 | 158,694 | 222 | 0.1% | 2,790 | 1.8% |
| Unemployment | 6,355 | 5,841 | 6,021 | 514 | 8.8% | 334 | 5.5% |
| Rate | 3.8 | 3.5 | 3.7 | 0.3 | —- | 0.1 | —- |
Pennsylvania Nonagricultural Wage and Salary Employment (seasonally adjusted in thousands)
| August 2023 | July 2023 | August 2022 | Volume Change from July 2023 | Percent Change from July 2023 | Volume Change from July 2022 | Percent Change from July 2022 | |
| Total Nonfarm Jobs | 6,164.5 | 6,148.7 | 6,010.7 | 15.8 | 0.3% | 153.8 | 2.6% |
| Goods Producing Industries | 859.9 | 855.2 | 846.1 | 4.7 | 0.5% | 13.8 | 1.6% |
| Mining & Logging | 23.4 | 23.3 | 22.5 | 0.1 | 0.4% | 0.9 | 4.0% |
| Construction | 267.7 | 264.4 | 257.2 | 3.3 | 1.2% | 10.5 | 4.1% |
| Manufacturing | 568.8 | 567.5 | 566.4 | 1.3 | 0.2% | 2.4 | 0.4% |
| Service Providing Industries | 5,304.6 | 5,293.5 | 5,164.6 | 11.1 | 0.2% | 140.0 | 2.7% |
| Trade, Transportation & Utilities | 1,162.3 | 1,160.7 | 1,148.3 | 1.6 | 0.1% | 14.0 | 1.2% |
| Information | 96.4 | 96.5 | 94.2 | -0.1 | -0.1% | 2.2 | 2.3% |
| Financial Activities | 339.3 | 340.2 | 335.3 | -0.9 | -0.3% | 4.0 | 1.2% |
| Professional & Business Services | 868.0 | 870.8 | 847.7 | -2.8 | -0.3% | 20.3 | 2.4% |
| Education & Health Services | 1,321.1 | 1,313.7 | 1,271.1 | 7.4 | 0.6% | 50.0 | 3.9% |
| Leisure & Hospitality | 571.2 | 566.9 | 540.0 | 4.3 | 0.8% | 31.2 | 5.8% |
| Other Services | 257.4 | 256.3 | 251.0 | 1.1 | 0.4% | 6.4 | 2.5% |
| Government | 688.9 | 688.4 | 677.0 | 0.5 | 0.1% | 11.9 | 1.8% |
