Butler County’s jobless rate lowest in region
Butler County’s seasonally adjusted jobless rate for September is back to the lowest in the seven-county Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area at 3%, down from 3.5% in August, according to the most recent data from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry.
The Pittsburgh region’s seasonally adjusted jobless rate went unchanged from August to September, rounding out at 3.4%.
The statewide rate stood unchanged at 3.4%, while the national rate ticked down one-tenth of a percentage point to 4.1%.
Armstrong, Allegheny, Beaver, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland are the other counties in the Pittsburgh region.
Allegheny and Washington counties came in tied with the second lowest rates in the region at 3.3%, with Westmoreland County just behind at 3.4%.
Fayette County came in with the highest rate in the region at 4.5%, while Armstrong County came in with a rate of 4.1% and Beaver County at 3.7%.
In counties surrounding Butler not classified as part of the Pittsburgh region, Mercer County came in with a jobless rate of 3.6%, followed by Venango County at 3.8%. Clarion County had a rate of 4%.
The Gettysburg and State College regions again had the lowest rate in the state at 2.6%, which has remained unchanged since March.
The regions with the highest rates in the state were East Stroudsburg and Johnstown, which both came in with a rate of 4%, which is unchanged from August.
Seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs in the Pittsburgh region decreased by 1,500 from August to September.
Statewide, jobs in the Pittsburgh region are up by 1.8% since September 2023.
Jobs decreased from July to August in eight of the 11 “supersectors” in the Pittsburgh area — the broadest groups of industries.
The largest loss was seen in leisure and hospitality which lost 7,100 jobs over the past month, and the largest gainer was education and health services which gained 6,400 jobs.
Over the past year, eight of the 11 supersectors increased, lead by education and health services which added 8,700 jobs, followed by leisure and hospitality which was up 5,300 jobs.