PA Unemployment Rate Drops In November: See Details

PENNSYLVANIA — Pennsylvania's unemployment rate dropped slightly in November, marking the ninth straight months that the total number of unemployed residents decreased statewide.

The improvement comes as the state and region slowly recover from the economic blows dealt by the pandemic, even as new threats loom and some areas implement mitigation measures like mask and vaccine mandates.

The state unemployment rate dropped from 6 percent in October to 5.7 percent in November. That's still higher than the nationwide rate, which also fell slightly from 4.6 to 4.2 percent in November.

Pennsylvania now stands 1.4 points lower than it did at this point in 2020, when the rate was 7.1 percent.

Certain sectors are performing better than others. The largest increase in jobs was in the trade, transportation, and utilities sector, with an increase of 5,700 new jobs last month.

For the past year, the leisure and hospitality industry — the industry hardest hit by the beginning of the pandemic — has seen the largest gain, with 46,300 new jobs added.

All told, 8 of the state's 11 "supersector" industries saw increases, and the total number of non-farm jobs rose by 13,500, to 5,781,800.

However, "all supersectors remained below their February 2020, pre-pandemic job levels," the Pnnsylvania Department of Labor and Industry noted.