Pennsylvania's unemployment rate down to 6.9 percent in May

William O'Boyle, The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
·1 min read

Jun. 18—WILKES-BARRE — Pennsylvania's unemployment rate was down two-tenths of a percentage point over the month, to 6.9 percent in May.

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) Friday released its employment situation report for May 2021.

The U.S. rate fell three-tenths of a percentage point from April to 5.8 percent.

The commonwealth's unemployment rate was 6.6 percentage points below its May 2020 level and the national rate was down 7.5 points over the year.

Pennsylvania's civilian labor force — the estimated number of residents working or looking for work — decreased 6,000 over the month, as employment rose 10,000 and unemployment fell 16,000.

Pennsylvania's total non-farm jobs were up 18,500 over the month to 5,684,200 in May.

Jobs increased in 5 of the 11 industry super-sectors with the largest volume gain in education & health services (+12,200).

The largest drop was in construction (-3,300) which followed 12 consecutive monthly gains.

Over the year, total non-farm jobs were up 529,200 with gains in 10 of the 11 super-sectors. Leisure & hospitality had the largest 12-month gain, adding back 187,200 jobs.

All super-sectors remained below their February 2020 job levels as of May 2021.

Additional information is available on the L&I website at — www.dli.pa.gov — or by following on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Note: The above data are seasonally adjusted. Seasonally adjusted data provide the most valid month-to-month comparison.