Local jobless rates drop
Much activity remains at a well site along Lippincott Road in Greene County.
Local jobless rates drop
Tara Kinsell / Observer-Reporter
An EQT well pad can be seen from Dividing Ridge Road in Washington Tonwnship, Greene County.
Economic development officials in Washington and Greene counties pointed to the continuous growth of the energy industry as the reason for low unemployment figures that crossed significant thresholds with the latest reading Thursday by the state Department of Labor & Industry.
Unemployment rates for Washington and Greene counties dropped precipitously in October, with the Greene figure descending below 4 percent.
Washington County’s jobless rate was 4.7 percent and Greene’s 3.9, according to seasonally adjusted figures released by Labor & Industry’s Center for Workforce Information and Analysis in Harrisburg.
Those numbers are well below those from September, when Washington’s rate was 5.2 percent (0.5 points higher) and Greene’s was 4.2 percent (0.3 higher).
Both October figures are a full 2 percentage points lower than they were in October 2013, when Washington was at 6.7 percent unemployment and Greene at 5.9.
Once again, Greene and Washington were under the national (5.8 percent) and the state (5.4 percent) figures for October.
Thursday’s figures continued a long-time downward trend for unemployment in both counties.
Washington County has been below the U.S. rate for 20 of the past 21 months and at or below Pennsylvania’s figure for at least the past 25 months. Greene has been under both sets of numbers for at least the past 25 months.
“There is a definite correlation between our low unemployment rates in both counties and the continued expansion of the energy industry here,” said Jeff Kotula, president of the 1,100-member Washington County Chamber of Commerce.
Robbie Matesic, Greene County’s executive director of economic development, attributed the job growth to ongoing investment by the private sector, particularly by the energy industry and its supply chain partners.
Thursday’s readings suggest that both counties are rapidly approaching full employment. While economists argue about the meaning of the term, many have recently emphasized the idea that full employment represents a “range” of possible unemployment rates.
In 1999, in the United States, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development gave an estimate of the “full-employment unemployment rate” of 4 to 6.4 percent. This is the estimated unemployment rate at full employment, plus or minus the standard statistical error of the estimate.
Matesic credited a willingness among employers and county government, workforce development agencies and area colleges to work together to help as many people as possible to prepare for and find work.
“They’re all at the table,” Matesic said. “They’re all in same room together and working toward the same goal.”
Despite the addition of jobs, she said there is still room for improvement in Greene’s unemployment picture, noting that some people who lost jobs with the closure of the Hatfield’s Ferry power station last year, are still looking for work.
The correlation between the growth of the energy and continuous improvement gains in employment has historical merit.
In October 2004, when the first Marcellus shale well was drilled in Mt. Pleasant Township, Washington County posted a seasonally adjusted jobless rate of 5.9 percent, with a labor force of 99,500.
In the latest reading, the job market in Washington County improved from September to October, with 600 more working (103,200) in a labor force that rose by only 100 (to 108,300). There were 5,100 unemployed, down 500 from September and 2,100 from the previous October.
Greene’s labor force grew by 200 over the month, to 21,800, and 300 more (21,000) were working. The number of jobless workers stayed the same at 900.
Matesic, who has held her post since 2004, recalled that around the time she took the position, Greene County was just coming off the Appalachian Regional Commission’s list of economically distressed counties. In October 2004, the county’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.9 percent with a workforce at 17,100. As of Thursday, its labor force stood at 21,800.
“In one decade, the pendulum has completely swung over to the other side,” she said,
Washington is one of seven counties in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had 5.0 percent unemployment in October – down from 5.2 the previous month. The MSA also includes Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette and Westmoreland.
October unemployment declined in all seven counties, with Allegheny and Butler posting the lowest figure (4.5) and Armstrong (5.9) the highest. Washington and Westmoreland were tied for the third-lowest rate. Beaver was at 5.2 percent and Fayette next to last at 5.6.
Fayette, however, has made tremendous strides, plummeting from 8.1 percent in October 2013. That’s a 2.5 percent dropoff year over year – best by far in the MSA.
The MSA rate has fallen 1.4 points over the year.
Of the 14 MSAs, State College had the lowest unemployment (4.1 percent) and Scranton-Wilkes-Barre the highest (6.3).
Nonfarm jobs in the Pittsburgh MSA increased by 200 in October to 1,167,400 and were up 9,000 for the year. About 3,100 retail jobs were added during the month, many for the holiday shopping season, and positions in professional and business services reached a 24-year high of 179,200.
The start of school also fueled carryover gains in jobs at colleges and universities (2,500), state government (300) and local government educational services (2,200).