Oct 17, 2020 2 min read

We’re not where we were a year ago, but Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate continues to drop.

Its seasonally adjusted rate fell to 8.1% in September, 2.3 percentage points lower than the August figure, the state Department of Labor & Industry reported Friday morning. The Keystone State’s jobless figure in September 2019 was 4.6%.

The U.S. rate in September was 7.4%, down five-tenths of a point from the previous month.

Foremost among the report’s highlights was that the state’s civilian labor force – estimated number of residents working or looking for work – increased by 52,000 over the month. The number of residents listed as unemployed dropped by 141,000, as employment rose by 194,000.

Non-farm jobs increased by 19,400 from August, to 5,597,800. They increased in nine of 11 industry supersectors, the largest volume gain (16,100) being in leisure and hospitality.

L&I reported that over the past five months, 54.2% of the total non-farm jobs lost in March and April have been recovered.

Year over year, however, non-farm jobs were down 470,800 statewide. Ten of 11 supersectors posted declines, the largest being in leisure and hospitality (147,300).

For more information, visit www.dli.pa.gov.