Although Pennsylvania created jobs in the third quarter at the fastest clip in five years, Pittsburgh's employment picture remained weak, according to a quarterly economic review released yesterday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The state added 70,300 jobs for the quarter, up 1.3 percent from the same time a year earlier and the best performance since a 1.6 percent gain in the fourth quarter of 2000, the FDIC said.

Commercial and residential development, particularly in the Lehigh Valley and southeastern Pennsylvania, spurred a jump in construction jobs. Other leading sectors included business, education, health and tourism services, reflecting increased recreation and growing health care demands by baby boomers.

In the Pittsburgh region, employment growth was 0.2 percent as the area continued to lose manufacturing jobs, the FDIC said. Manufacturing jobs fell 3.1 percent locally for the quarter compared with a decline of 0.7 percent nationwide.

Still, job gains are projected to pick up locally this year.

Economists at PNC Financial Services Group expect the region to add some 13,000 net jobs, up from an estimated 2,000 for all of 2005, as the manufacturing sector stabilizes and the downsizing at US Airways subsides. The projected 1 percent gain this year would be the strongest showing since a 1.8 percent increase in 2000.

On the housing front, prices moderated somewhat across the state in the third quarter, rising 11.5 percent overall from the year-ago period, down from a gain of 13.6 percent in the second quarter.

Prices rose the most in Eastern Pennsylvania and the least in the Pittsburgh and Erie areas, which posted gains of 5.4 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively.

In another sign of weakness locally, homes in the Pittsburgh region took longer to sell than they did a year earlier. Listing periods averaged 80 days in the third quarter, up 6 percent from the same three months in 2004, the FDIC said.

The agency said homeowners in the state faced higher heating bills in the third quarter, with natural gas prices surging between 29 percent and 38 percent from the previous year.