Lehigh Valley’s unemployment rate shrinking, latest data shows
“It is positive news that Lehigh Valley’s unemployment rate continues to recover, but the recovery has not been linear nor equal among all industries and regions,” George Lewis, LVEDC vice president for marketing, communications and research said in a news release. “We continue to track the data, which has changed as recently as the last few weeks and is not reflected in the November numbers.”
05/11/2021
The Lehigh Valley region in November continued to rebound from the worst of the coronavirus pandemic’s effects on employment.
That’s according to Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry data released Tuesday showing the unemployment rate for the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) was 6.7% in November, a decrease of half of a percentage point from October.
During the widespread shutdown of Pennsylvania’s economy at the outset of the pandemic, the Lehigh Valley region’s unemployment rate hit an historic high 16.7% in April. The region through November recovered 44,600, or 71.1%, of the 62,700 jobs lost from February through April, the department says, as the unemployment rate dropped by 60%.
For November, Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate was 6.6%, down 0.8 percentage points over the month, and the national rate fell 0.2 points from October to 6.7%.
Rates are seasonally adjusted to account for annual spikes, such as holiday hiring. MSA and state rates are also preliminary for November and subject to adjustment. The Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton MSA covers Carbon, Lehigh and Northampton counties in Pennsylvania and Warren County in New Jersey.
The following are charts looking at the Lehigh Valley’s unemployment rate for 2020 through November and how it compares to the state and nation, in addition to how the local rebound stacks up against other MSAs. Click the links in this paragraph if they are not displaying.
Unemployment rate for Pennsylvania labor markets
For metropolitan statistical areas, state and U.S.
Oct-20
Nov-20
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton PA-NJ MSA
7.2%
6.7%
Altoona MSA
6.6%
5.9%
Bloomsburg-Berwick MSA
6.6%
5.5%
Chambersburg-Waynesboro MSA
6.2%
5.1%
East Stroudsburg MSA
9.0%
7.8%
Erie MSA
8.2%
7.4%
Gettysburg MSA
4.9%
4.3%
Harrisburg-Carlisle MSA
6.1%
5.4%
Johnstown MSA
7.4%
6.6%
Lancaster MSA
5.4%
4.7%
Lebanon MSA
6.3%
5.5%
Philadelphia MSA
7.7%
7.7%
Pittsburgh MSA
7.3%
6.5%
Reading MSA
7.1%
6.2%
Scranton-Wilkes-Barre-Hazleton MSA
8.6%
7.6%
State College MSA
4.6%
4.5%
Williamsport MSA
7.8%
6.9%
York-Hanover MSA
6.0%
5.4%
Pennsylvania
7.4%
6.6%
United States
6.9%
6.7%
Seasonally adjusted | November is preliminary for MSAs and Pennsylvania
Get the data Created with Datawrapper
The state figures for November show a seasonally adjusted civilian labor force of 437,300 people in the Lehigh Valley region, with 29,100 out of work. That workforce is 2.4% smaller than it was in November 2019.
Across the region, goods-producing industries were essentially unchanged while service-providing industries added 6,400 jobs in November, the state data shows. Employment in trade, transportation and utilities rose the most, up by 4,700 jobs, while professional and business services had the largest decline, down by 400 jobs.
According to the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp., many of the job gains were in health care, which is critical in fighting COVID-19, and logistics, the linchpin of e-commerce’s rising popularity in the face of social distancing measures. Manufacturing also added 400 jobs in November, bringing the total to 37,700, the LVEDC reports.
“It is positive news that Lehigh Valley’s unemployment rate continues to recover, but the recovery has not been linear nor equal among all industries and regions,” George Lewis, LVEDC vice president for marketing, communications and research said in a news release. “We continue to track the data, which has changed as recently as the last few weeks and is not reflected in the November numbers.”
The LVEDC notes November’s figures represent the period before Pennsylvania’s three-week shutdown of indoor dining paired with other restrictions over the holidays, ending this past Monday. Coming during an historically busy and profitable time for restaurants, those limitations were aimed at preventing people from gathering as COVID-19 rates rose.
Citing state Labor and Industry data, the LVEDC says the number of new unemployment claims rose in December; for the week ending Dec. 19, 36.3% of those receiving unemployment benefits in Lehigh Valley had worked in the hospitality industry.
Younger workers and women have been hit harder by the slowdown, the LVEDC says, citing state data showing workers under 35 made up 40% and women comprised 57.6% of those receiving unemployment benefits in the Lehigh Valley through Dec. 12.
Job-seekers can find resources from Pennsylvania CareerLink Lehigh Valley at careerlinklehighvalley.org and Lehigh Workforce Investment Board Inc. at lvwib.org.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct that the Lehigh Valley region through November recovered 44,600, or 71.1%, of the 62,700 jobs lost from February through April, according to the state figures, as the unemployment rate dropped by 60%.
Credit: Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. lehighvalleylive.com Published on Posted May 02, 2021
