Posted on 08/01/2006 11:46:01 AM PDT by Namyak
Led by a turnaround in manufacturing, the number of jobs in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre region hit its highest mark since the current method for counting jobs was created in 1990.
Nonfarm jobs in the metropolitan statistical area hit 265,500, about 3,600 more than last year.
As more Scranton/Wilkes-Barre residents found work, the region’s jobless rate fell four-tenths of a percentage point to a seasonally adjusted 5.1 percent in June, according to the state Department of Labor and Industry.
Despite the decline in the area’s jobless rate, it remained greater than the state rate of 4.7 percent — also a 16-year record — and national jobless figure of 4.6 percent.
Of the state’s 14 metro areas, only Williamsport and Johns-town had a greater unemployment rate.
Although the resident labor force grew by about 1,000, twice that many found jobs in June. The number of unemployed fell 1,000 to 14,500 and the number of employed increased 2,000 to 267,800.
Data from the state suggests that the manufacturing sector is largely responsible for the improving employment situation.
Although the region lost thousands of manufacturing jobs over the last five years, it didn’t mean that manufacturers were hurting, said state labor analyst Joseph Merlina.
“Some high-profile plant closures drove those number down, but part of the loss was also due to manufacturers getting more efficient and remaining competitive,” he said. “Now those guys are hiring and you have some new places moving in.”
The local manufacturing sector added 400 jobs in June, marking the third consecutive month of growth. Over 1,000 manufacturing jobs were added over the last three months.
A growing manufacturing sector is a better sign than declining unemployment, said University of Scranton business professor Satyajit Ghosh, Ph.D. Manufacturing jobs tend to pay better and have better benefits that many lower-end service jobs, he said.
“We have so far failed to attract high-end service jobs, like information technology, and instead have added not-so-great service jobs,” Dr. Ghosh said. “Our region’s prosperity has historically been linked to manufacturing — so this is definitely good news.”
The amount of overtime racked up by production workers shows the growing demand for the region’s manufactured goods. The average production worker in the region worked an average of 42 hours in June, almost four hours more than a year ago.
Lackawanna County’s unemployment rate was 5.3 percent, beating neighboring Luzerne County, which reported a 5.7 percent jobless rate.
Jobs in education and health services fell 1,300 with the summer recess but leisure and hospitality gained 500 as outdoor activity and travel picked up.
Contact the writer: dfalchek@timesshamrock.com
Fast Eddie Rendell will take credit and, as usual, Bush will be completely left out of the glory. Maybe it will help Santorum at least. But most likely, the media will make sure that Eddie claims victory and gets the glory.
This can't be possible. I watch "The Office" and downsizing is imminent at Dunder Mifflin's Scranton branch !!!!!
haha
In many parts of the country this is true... some other poster was saying we should all go to Sarasota for jobs..
Curious: What are the average mean and median incomes of these jobs?
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