Dec 22, 2018 1 min read

Although it was a mere one-tenth of a point, Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate rose in November – to 4.2 percent. That was the first month-over-month increase since July 2016.

That bump can be attributed to a larger pool of job-seekers and the shrinkage of payrolls. At the same time, the number of employed grew by 17,000, giving the state a record high of 6,172,000. Those figures were released Friday by the state Department of Labor & Industry. They are preliminary and subject to change.

Pennsylvania’s employment picture is much brighter than it was a year earlier, when its jobless figure was 4.8 percent. The national rate is 3.7 percent.

The state’s civilian labor force – estimated number of residents working or looking for work – was up 21,000 from October, and the estimated number of non-farm jobs was down 5,400 last month to 6,055,500. Unemployment increased by 3,000 to 269,000.

Five of the 11 industry super-sectors posted gains over the month, led by construction, which reached its highest level since May 2008. Mining and logging had the largest percentage gain, 1.0 percent, as it added jobs for a fifth consecutive month

Over the year, jobs increased 1.3 percent statewide, which included gains in 10 super-sectors. Jobs nationally were up 1.7 percent during this period.