The region saw a net increase of 700 non-farm jobs, but fewer people were looking for work, Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry officials say.
The Lehigh Valley’s unemployment rate fell one-tenth of a percentage point in October to 7.7 percent, according to data released today by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry.
The rate had stood at 7.8 percent through August and September. The Lehigh Valley rate measures unemployment in the metropolitan statistical area that includes Northampton, Lehigh and Carbon counties in Pennsylvania, and Warren County in New Jersey.
Compared with the same time last year, the region’s job market is in far better shape. Last October, the unemployment rate was 8.7 percent.
In the most recent October, the data show a net increase of 700 nonfarm jobs in the region, but the labor force also shrank, meaning fewer people were looking for work.
The Department of Labor & Industry says in a news release that the numbers were typical of this time of year based on historical trends.
“Educational services and (public school districts) were both up over the month as local schools, colleges and universities continued to approach full employment for the school year,” the release states. “Leisure and hospitality dropped over the month but was up over the year.”
The Lehigh Valley still lagged behind the statewide rate of 7.5 percent in October and the national rate of 7.3 percent. Still, there’s been a positive trend locally, according to Steven Zellers, an industry and business analyst with the Department of Labor & Industry.
“You guys have been improving slowly but steadily for a while now,” Zellers said, noting that the year-over-year drop in the Lehigh Valley unemployment rate is more than 1 percentage point while some other regions of the state have only seen year-over-year drops of a half a percentage point or less. “That’s fairly significant.”
