Labor Market Information on Unemployment in Pennsylvania Tim McElhinny James Martini Center for Workforce Information & Analysis

Unemployment Rate: PA & US

Short- and Long-Term Unemployed

Labor Force Participation Rate

Discouraged Workers

PA Unemployment Rate by Demographic Group

Select PA Labor Force Characteristics U6: Total Unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part-time for economic reasons

PA Unemployment Rate by Educational Group

UC Exhaustees Quick Facts: 64% have a HS diploma or less 59% made less than $30,000 per year prior to collecting; 84% made less than $50,000 per year. Top Industries prior to collecting by percentage of all exhaustees Education & Health Services (17%) Professional & Business Services (17%) Wholesale & Retail Trade (16%) Manufacturing (14%) Construction (11%)

Exhaustee Counts by County – Available Monthly in PA Fast Facts

Survey of UC Recipients – Background Over 3,000 telephone interviews conducted from a sample drawn from both short-term and long-term UC claimants (long-term claimants included those exhausting all benefits) Respondents were asked demographic questions including on race, age, sex, and educational background Also asked questions on current employment status, wage levels, training activities, and commuting Differences were also examined between respondents from rural counties and urban counties Job search activities were also asked about, both in terms of what respondents had done, and what they considered to be most helpful

Findings from the Survey of UC Recipients The average respondent was slightly older, more educated, and more likely to be married the average unemployed individual (based on Current Population Survey data) Nearly two-thirds of all respondents indicated that they had received specific training for their occupation prior to collecting UC More than half of respondents indicated they had worked for their previous employers for four years or longer; nearly one-quarter said they had been with the same employer for 10 years or longer Respondents from rural counties were much more likely than those from urban counties to have worked in a goods-producing industry prior to collecting UC Urban respondents were more likely to have stopped receiving UC because their benefits stopped being funded; they were also more likely to not be working but still looking for work

Findings from the Survey of UC Recipients – continued Among individuals working 35 hours or more at a primary job, nearly one fourth were still actively looking for full-time work, indicating dissatisfaction with their employment situation More than 55% of all respondents indicated they were unemployed during the week prior to being interviewed; this was higher for short-term claimants than long-term claimants Approximately 20% of unemployed respondents indicated they had pursued additional training or education; nearly 60% indicated a willingness to pursue additional training or education Over 90% indicated utilizing 3 or more types of job search; 58% stated participating in at least 8 different types of job search activities Urban respondents were more likely to employ online resources than rural respondents The 2 types of job search activity that were most instrumental in either getting a job or closer to getting a job were networking and searching internet job boards