Unemployment rates went down from October to November across the local area.
On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry released the November 2020 Jobs, Unemployment, and Civilian Labor Force Data. The statistics show that unemployment is lower in all four local counties of Cameron, Elk, McKean and Potter, as well as in Pennsylvania as a whole.
In fact, the Department of Labor and Industry reported unemployment across the commonwealth to be lower than the U.S. rate — for the first time since May 2015. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate dropped 0.8 percentage points to 6.6% in November. The U.S. rate was 6.7% in November.
Pennsylvania’s November 2020 unemployment rate is 2.0 percentage points higher than in November 2019. The national rate is 3.2 points more than its November 2019 rate.
In the Bradford Micropolitan Statistical Area — McKean County — the unemployment rate dropped 0.6 points from October’s rate to 6.0% in November, and the seasonally adjusted rate dropped 0.7 points to 6.4%. This is still higher than the November 2019 rate, when unemployment in McKean County was 5.9% and seasonally adjusted unemployment, 6.2%.
In the St. Marys Micropolitan Statistical Area — Elk County — unemployment decreased 0.9 points to 7.1% in November and the seasonally adjusted rate fell 0.8 points to 7.3%. These rates are still 0.9 points up from a year ago, as November 2019 had an unemployment rate of 6.2% and a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 6.4%.
Potter County saw a rate drop of 0.4 points to 6.2%, and the seasonally adjusted rate dropped 0.5 points to 6.9%. This is nearly back down to November 2019, which had a 6.1% unemployment rate and a 6.8% seasonally adjusted rate.
In Cameron County, unemployment decreased 0.3 points from October to November to 7.3%, and seasonally adjusted unemployment decreased 0.5 points to 7.8%. The unemployment rate is 0.9 points higher than in November 2019, when it was 6.4%. The seasonally adjusted unemployment is 1.0 point higher than November 2019, when it was 6.8%.
“Pennsylvania’s civilian labor force — the estimated number of residents working or looking for work — decreased 40,000 over the month as unemployment declined 55,000 while resident employment was up 15,000,” a press release from the department stated.
The state’s total nonfarm jobs were up 21,000 to 5,637,600. This is the seventh month in a row the number of jobs has increased.
“Over the past seven months, Pennsylvania has recovered 57.7 percent of the total nonfarm jobs lost in March and April,” the department reported.
