Washington, Greene counties’ job losses continue to climb
Unemployment rates in Washington and Greene counties rose in March, according to the latest state data released Tuesday.
The state Department of Labor & Industry said the seasonally adjusted preliminary jobless rate in Washington County stood at 6.3 percent, up 0.4 percent from February’s final rate of 5.7 percent. The latest rate is 0.9 percent higher when compared against the 5.4 percent rate of March 2015.
In Greene County, the preliminary jobless rate of 8.0 percent was a full percentage point higher than the 7.0 percent rate for February and is 2.1 percent above the March 2015 rate of 5.9 percent.
In Washington County, which has a seasonally adjusted labor force of 107,900, 6,800 people were without work last month.
In Greene County, which has a labor force of 18,600, 1,500 were without jobs in March.
According to supplemental industry employment data provided by L&I’s Center for Workforce Information & Analysis in Harrisburg, the decline in employment showed the biggest year-over-year losses in the mining and logging category – which includes natural gas production jobs – which registered a net loss of 1,900 jobs since March 2015; a drop of 5,100 positions in the manufacturing sector; and 1,700 fewer jobs in the trade, transportation and utilities segment of the private service-providing industries.
In Greene County, of the 600 nonfarm jobs lost since March 2015, 500 came in the mining, logging and construction segment of the goods-producing sector.
The results from the two local counties mirrored the performance of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area, where the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased one-half of a percentage point to 5.5 percent.
In addition to Washington County, the Pittsburgh MSA includes Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette and Westmoreland counties and the city of Pittsburgh.
Despite the increase, the Pittsburgh MSA had the 13th lowest jobless rate among Pennsylvania’s 18 MSA. In March, seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs in the Pittsburgh MSA decreased 400 to 1,165,600. Year over year, jobs were up 0.6 percent (+7,400) in the MSA, while statewide jobs grew 1.4 percent.
The March seasonally adjusted rate for Pennsylvania went up 0.3 percent to 4.9 percent, while the national rate increased 0.1 percent to 5.0 percent.