PA Unemployment in May 8.2%

Pennsylvania's unemployment numbers ticked up in May but the state continues to fair better than the nation as a whole. The Rate in PA moved up four-tenths of a percentage point to 8.2% in May. Nationally the number increased half a point to 9.4%. Troy Thompson with the PA department of Labor and industry says it is also important to take a look at the overall umber of jobs in the state. Pennsylvania's seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs count was down 17,700 jobs in May to 5,630,600. Thompson says as bad as that may look, it is actually good news because it shows a slowing in the rate of loss compared to last month’s loss of 23,500 jobs. He points out that professional & business services and manufacturing accounted for two-thirds of the overall decline with losses of 6,800 and 5,400, respectively. In the last year the state has seen 3.2% of its jobs (185,000) disappear. Nationally, jobs were down 3.9% over the same period.