Apr 15, 2016 2 min read

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry said Friday the state’s jobless rate in March rose 0.3 percent from February to 4.9 percent.

According to L&I’s data, which is not seasonally adjusted, Pennsylvania’s rate remained below the national average, which was up one-tenth of a percentage point to 5.0 percent.

The commonwealth’s rate was down 0.4 percent since March 2015, while the national rate declined by 0.5 percent over the year.

Pennsylvania’s civilian labor force was up 30,000 in March to 6,501,000, a record high. Resident employment rose by 14,000, while the unemployment count increased by 17,000.

Total nonfarm jobs increased 15,300 to a record high of 5,891,700 in March. Seven of the eleven supersectors added jobs, with four up by at least 3,000 from February. The largest gain was in construction (+6,000), while the largest drop was in manufacturing (-800).

Over the year, total nonfarm jobs in Pennsylvania were up 81,000 (+1.4 pecent). All eight service-providing supersectors added jobs from March 2015, while two of the three goods-producing supersectors declined.

The largest increase from last year was in education & health services (+24,600), while the largest decline was in mining & logging (-8,900).

The county by county unemployment rate for March will be released April 26.