WASHINGTON: Parking spaces at the UPMC Hamot might be getting a little harder to find these days. There’s good reason, said Karen Beardsley, a spokeswoman for UPMC. The hospital, which is one of Erie County’s three largest employers, has hired 35 new nurses since Jan. 1. The effects of that larger staff are reflected in Erie County’s March unemployment numbers, which were announced Tuesday by the state Department of Labor & Industry. Not only did employment at Erie County hospitals climb from 5,200 to 5,300 for the first time since May 2016, but the county’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate also dipped two-tenths of a percentage point to 5.7 percent, the lowest rate since December 2015. Obviously, 100 extra jobs, after rounding, was only a small part of the equation in a month that brought some good employment news. The approach of summer was reflected in a 300-job increase in the leisure and hospitality sector that is typically equated with tourism. Meanwhile, the broad category of education and health services also picked up 400 jobs, bringing total employment in the sector to 29,600. And despite a number of recent store closings, Erie County’s retail sector added 100 jobs for a total of 14,900.
Erie County’s improving unemployment rate was part of a broader trend that saw the statewide unemployment rate fall two-tenths of a percentage point to 4.8 percent. But not all corners of the state saw an improvement. Out of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, the unemployment rate increased in 12, held steady in 12 and fell in 43, said Sandy Hoffman, a labor market analyst with the state Department of Labor & Industry. The improvement was especially significant in Crawford County, where the unemployment rate fell half a percentage point to 5.2 percent. Ken Louie, professor of economics and director of the Economic Research Institute of Erie at Penn State Behrend, said it’s important not too make too much of statistics from any one month. “You have to be cautious,” he said. “These numbers tend to be volatile.” But a review of the statistics over the past year show a positive trend, he said, adding that the unemployment rate has fallen almost 1.5 percentage points since it peaked at more than 7 percent in October. “The fact that they are continuing to fall is a good sign,” he said.
Another good sign, he said, is that the decline in the unemployment rate coincided with a slight increase in the civilian labor force, which is defined as the number of people who are either working or looking for work. Louie sees another sign in the most recent batch of numbers. He sees signs of stability in the region’s manufacturing sector, following a tough year in 2016 that saw the elimination of 1,500 jobs at GE Transportation. Manufacturing employment in Erie County was unchanged in March at 19,400 jobs. “Manufacturing seems to be holding its own compared to the trauma of last year,” he said.
