Pennsylvania's seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate dropped in November to 8.5 percent, down four-tenth's of a percentage point from October's revised rate of 8.9 percent.

It was the first time the statewide unemployment rate went down since March 2007 when the unemployment rate was 4.2 percent.

The state Department of Labor and Industry reported the labor force, which is those people who are working or looking for work, also fell, by 12,000, according to the household survey in which statisticians talk to workers. The state's unemployment rate was up by 2.4 percentage points from November 2008 when the rate was 6.1 percent.

In the establishment survey, in which companies are surveyed as to the number of jobs they have, there were 10,200 fewer non-farm jobs in November than there were in October.

The two surveys often conflict slightly, but both trend the same way over the long-term. For instance, the household survey has found that there are 147,000 more people who were unemployed in November than there were over the same month last year while the establishment survey found 167,200 fewer jobs over the same period.

The jobs survey found that manufacturing continued to lose ground, with 1,300 fewer jobs, bringing the number of manufacturing jobs down to 567,100 positions. In the last five years, the state has lost 121,400 manufacturing jobs with 65,100 jobs manufacturing jobs lost in the last year.

Construction gained some ground, adding 1,900 jobs in the last month, but still was down 17,400 jobs since November 2008.

The most jobs lost were in professional and business services, where 4,500 positions were eliminated in the past month and a total of 40,700 were lost in the past year. Education and health services gained 3,400 jobs from October to November for a total of 21,700 jobs added from November of last year.

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