The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry says the region's unemployment rate also dipped one-tenth of a percentage point in February.
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People wait in line last year in Portland, Ore., during a job fair.
More people in the Lehigh Valley had jobs in February than in any other month since September 2008, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry.
The department said in its latest jobs report that 399,300 people living in the region were employed in the month of February. It’s been 54 months since employment surpassed 399,000, according to data from the department.
The latest jobs report, released Tuesday morning, shows an increase of 1,300 jobs and a one-tenth of a percentage point drop in the unemployment rate from January to February. The rate now stands at 8.6 percent, says the report, which includes data from Warren County in New Jersey.
That figure still lags behind both Pennsylvania statewide and national figures. The national rate in February was 7.7 percent. Pennsylvania’s rate in the same month was 8.1 percent while New Jersey posted a statewide unemployment rate of 9.2 percent in February.
Steven Zellers, an industry and business analyst with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry, said the local unemployment rate and how it compares to other unemployment rates isn’t necessarily the best indicator for how the local economy’s performing.
For example, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre region usually has the highest unemployment rate out of all of Pennsylvania’s 14 regions, but there are socio-economic factors such as an aging population that contribute, Zellers said.
The Lehigh Valley in February either outperformed or stayed level with statewide numbers in most sectors, he said, noting the region saw a month-over-month increase in construction jobs when most other regions saw a decrease in this sector. It’s notable because construction jobs generally don’t increase until the warmer months arrive, Zellers said.
The local employment news is the latest in a series of indicators that the economy is showing some signs of improvement.
Nationally, several reports came out on Tuesday giving analysts some reason for optimism. U.S. factory orders rose sharply from January to February, the U.S. Commerce Department said. And Fannie Mae, the mortgage giant that nearly collapsed five years ago, announced that it earned its biggest yearly profit ever, a sign that the housing market continues to rebound.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.