Region's jobless rate falls a little
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The unemployment rate in the Pittsburgh region fell by four-tenths of a percentage point in September to 7.4 percent from 7.8 percent in August, marking a return to the July jobless levels.
The good news in the latest report from the state Department of Labor and Industry is that the region, which is not experiencing much population growth, has gained 12,000 jobs over the year, said Mark Price, an economist with the Keystone Research Center, an economic policy research organization in Harrisburg.
Mr. Price said, given its demographics, the region should be back to full employment in about a year. "You're on track to come out of the recession faster than everyone else," he said.
The Pittsburgh region is defined in this report as the metropolitan statistical area made up of Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties.
The dip in unemployment did not come as a surprise to Jonathan Bender, who runs a job recruiting firm office, PrincetonOne, on the North Side.
He said his office, which recruits people who have more than five years of work experience, has seen a demand for engineers and sales representatives, particularly those who can work a territory. The manufacturing sector has generated the most activity for his company, along with purchasing, especially for good negotiators who can save a company money.
His experience also backs up data that the financial activities sector lost 1,800 jobs from August to September.
"Financial services and insurance have gotten crushed," he said.
In terms of jobs, when not seasonally adjusted, the region gained 6,000 jobs in September, but most of those were generated by back-to-school season.
Education accounted for 7,200 jobs added in September. The sector employed 52,400 workers total, including teachers and support staff. That is 2,700 fewer people than were working in schools in September 2010.
Educational services, which is the private sector of education, added 7,400 jobs and was up 1,000 jobs from last year.
Manufacturing gained 200 jobs for the month and was up 1,700 from September 2010. Construction was up by 100 jobs in September and gained a total of 2,900 over the year.
Certain categories saw some big job losses in the month. Leisure and hospitality, which includes bars, restaurants and hotels, was down 2,900 jobs. Retail trade lost 2,400 jobs; wholesale trade lost 1,000 jobs; and there were 1,300 few jobs in the information sector.
First Published November 1, 2011 12:00 am
