Halfway through the year, businesses in the Pittsburgh region are on track to add some 9,300 workers for 2006, according to new figures from the state Department of Labor and Industry.

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If it holds, that would translate to a nonfarm payroll gain of 0.8 percent, the biggest in six years. The bulk of the payroll gains are coming in lower-paying professions, led by leisure and hospitality industries, up 5,200 through the first six months of the year versus the comparable 2005 period, the state figures show. Other areas boasting gains include non-hospital health care, social and related services, up 4,700; construction and mining, up 1,300; and trade, transportation and utilities, up 850.

Despite a gain of 1,000 in June, manufacturing is still running 1,450 below the year-ago pace. For June, the state said the seven-county region's jobless rate slipped three-tenths of a point from May to 4.8 percent, as an increase in the number of employed residents outpaced an increase in the region's labor force, measured by people working or seeking work.