The three week “pause” imposed on restaurants in December as part of the state’s COVID-19 mitigation efforts may have shown in McKean County’s unemployment rate for the month.
According to the state department of labor and industry, McKean County’s was the only unemployment rate in the region that had an increase in December.
The state rate for the month was 6.8%, while the national rate was 6.7%.
In McKean County, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for December slid up a few notches since November, from 6.6 to 6.9%. McKean County was ranked 44th in the state, tied with Somerset County.
The other three local counties all saw improvements, however slight, for the last month of 2020.
In Potter County, the rate for December was 6.8%, a slight drop from 6.9% one month earlier. Potter County was ranked 40th in the state for unemployment, tied with Carbon, Lehigh and Schuylkill counties.
Elk County’s rate for December was 7.2%, a drop from a month earlier when it was 7.5%. Elk and Armstrong counties were tied for 52nd place.
Cameron County’s rate for December was 7.8%, a slight improvement from November’s rate of 7.9%. Cameron County was tied with Lawrence for 61st place.
The best unemployment rate in the state was in Adams County at 4.4%, while the worst was in Philadelphia County at 9.7%.
The North Central region, made up of McKean, Elk, Cameron, Potter, Clearfield and Jefferson counties, had an overall rate of 6.7% for December.
In McKean County, regarding initial unemployment claims, for the week ending Dec. 5, there were 159 claims; Dec. 12, 107 claims; Dec. 19, 146 claims; and Dec. 26, 92 claims. For continued claims, there were 849 for Dec. 5; 809 for Dec. 12; 898 for Dec. 19; and 807 for Dec. 26.
In Elk County, for initial claims, there were 155 for the week ending Dec. 5; 162 for Dec. 12; 157 for Dec. 19; and 144 for Dec. 26. For continued claims, the week ending Dec. 5, there were 803; Dec. 12, 894; Dec. 19, 875; and Dec. 26, 855.
For Potter County’s initial claims, there were 59 for the week ending Dec. 5; 60 for Dec. 12; 60 for Dec. 19; and 49 for Dec. 26. For continued claims, there were 296 for the week ending Dec. 5; 320 for Dec. 12; 346 for Dec. 19; and 385 for Dec. 26.
And for Cameron County’s initial claims, there were 24 for the week ending Dec. 5; 26 for Dec. 12; 36 for Dec. 19; and 19 for Dec. 26. For continued claims, there were 121 the week ending Dec. 5; 142 for Dec. 12; 97 for Dec. 19; and 150 for Dec. 26.
