Jobless rates continue to fall in local counties
County unemployment rates dropped across Southwestern Pennsylvania for a fourth consecutive month in November.
The jobless figure in Washington County and Greene County each declined eight-tenths of a percentage point from October. Washington’s rate fell to 6.7%, Greene’s to 6.9%, according to seasonally adjusted statistics released Tuesday by the state Department of Labor & Industry.
These latest indicators are in stark contrast from pre-pandemic November 2019, when Washington was at 5.0% joblessness and Greene at 6.0%.
For the second straight month, Fayette County experienced the largest decrease among the seven counties comprising the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area. Fayette’s rate plummeted 1.2 points from October to November, from 9.5% to 8.3%. That latest rate, however, remains the highest in the MSA.
Westmoreland’s figure dropped seven-tenths of a point from October to 6.3%. Its rate a year earlier was 4.9%.
Unemployment statewide was 6.6% in November, down 0.8% from October. The national figure dipped two-tenths of a point to 6.7%.
Washington, Fayette and Westmoreland counties are in the Pittsburgh MSA, where the November rate was 6.5%, an improvement of 0.8 points from the previous month. The MSA rate was 4.7% in November 2019.
Greene County is not in the MSA.
Washington’s labor force, according to Labor & Industry, was 103,600 in November, a decrease of 600 from October. Employment (96,700) was up 200 from the previous month, while the number of county residents listed as unemployed (7,000) plummeted by 800.
Greene County’s labor force (16,300) dipped by 200 over the month; employment remained at 15,200; and the number of unemployed (1,100) fell by 200.
Butler County again had the lowest jobless figure (5.5%) in the MSA, which also includes Pittsburgh. Butler also had the MSA’s smallest monthly decline, four-tenths of a point. The other counties all posted a drop of at least seven-tenths.
Rankings of the seven MSA counties remained the same for a fourth consecutive month. Trailing Butler, in order, were: Westmoreland (6.3%), Allegheny (6.5%), Washington (6.7%), Armstrong (7.1%), Beaver (7.3%) and Fayette (8.3%).
Seasonally adjusted non-farm jobs across the MSA rose 0.3% from October, a bump of 3,500 to 1,111,100. Year over year, however, jobs were down 7.0% – a total of 83,400. Statewide, jobs declined 7.4% from November 2019.
Three of Pittsburgh’s MSA’s 11 supersectors posted monthly job gains of 1,000 or more. The largest increase was in trade, transportation, & utilities (2,500), at an time the holiday shopping and shipping season began. Construction lost 1,000 jobs, the largest decrease among supersectors.