Pennsylvania’s Unemployment Rate Remains at 3.4% in August, Total Non-Farm Jobs Hits Record High

HARRISBURG –  The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) has released its preliminary employment situation report for August 2024. 

For the 11th consecutive month, Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate in August remained unchanged over the month at 3.4 percent.

The rate remained well under the U.S. unemployment rate, which fell by one-tenth of a percentage point from its July rate to 4.2 percent. 

The Commonwealth’s unemployment rate was one-tenth of a percentage point above its August 2023 level of 3.3 percent, while the national rate was up four-tenths of a percentage point over the year.

Pennsylvania’s civilian labor force – the estimated number of residents working or looking for work – was down 22,000 over the month to 6,581,000 in August.

Resident employment (-20,000) accounted for the majority of the labor force decline.  

Pennsylvania’s total nonfarm jobs were up 8,000 over the month to a record high of 6,200,000, setting the 13th consecutive record high for Pennsylvania’s jobs count. Jobs increased from July in seven of the 11 industry supersectors.

The largest supersector movement was a gain of 4,500 jobs in education & health services which reached a record high for the 15th consecutive month.

Over the year, total nonfarm jobs were up 102,600 with gains in nine of the 11 supersectors. Education & health services (+59,600) had the largest volume over-the-year gain.

Additional information is available on the L&I Web site at www.dli.pa.gov or by following on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.