Unemployment rates are far below US level in 16 states

About 28,000 Oregonians were unemployed due to a job loss in May.

More than 2.2 million jobs have been created since the recovery began in February 2010, the department said, including more than 15,000 nonfarm payroll jobs last month. In May, leisure and hospitality was the only sector to experience over-the-month job gains.

Lexington County had the state’s lowest jobless rate, at 4 percent, a drop from the April rate of 4.3 percent and the May 2015 rate of 5 percent.

Today, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry released its employment situation report for May 2016.

Two regions of the state had April unemployment rates below 3 percent – Northwest Arkansas at 2.4 percent and the Jonesboro metropolitan area at 2.8 percent.

“Yes, the employment population and the labor force participation rate are much lower than they were prior to the recession, but it is improving”, Deck said.

Education and health services led all job sectors in May with 3,900 new jobs.

The Labor Department says the unemployment rate is now significantly below the national figure of 4.7 per cent in 16 states.

Greater Springfield unemployment was 4.8 percent in April, down from 5.6 percent in March, as well as from April 2015. The rate declined by 0.4 of a percentage point over the past two months, offsetting gains in the first quarter 2016. Telecommunications was impacted by a temporary labor dispute. Job losses were impacted by a temporary labor dispute in the information sector.

Over the year, total nonfarm jobs in Pennsylvania were up 39,200 (+0.07 percent). Trade, transportation, and utilities added 6,900 jobs, mostly in retail trade (+4,700). Government and information services also gained jobs. Seven of the 11 supersectors declined in May, with five down by at least 2,000 jobs. Meanwhile, other services cut 600 jobs while manufacturing cut 400. The sector was up 3.4% year-over-year.

Construction posted the largest gain on a percentage basis, up 5.5 percent- adding 39,600 jobs. May was the fourth consecutive month of declines in manufacturing.