May 20, 2016 1 min read

HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate rose in April, the state Department of Labor & Industry reported Friday.

The jobless rate was up four-tenths of a percentage point from March to 5.3 percent. Pennsylvania’s rate rose above that of the United States, which was unchanged at 5.0 percent. The commonwealth’s rate was up one-tenth of a percentage point since April 2015, while the national rate declined by four-tenths of a percentage point over the year.

Pennsylvania’s civilian labor force was up 24,000 in April to 6,526,000. Resident employment declined by 3,000, while the unemployment count increased by 27,000.

Total nonfarm jobs decreased 16,900 to 5,877,700. Eight of the eleven supersectors declined, with four down by at least 3,500 jobs in April. The largest drop was in leisure & hospitality (-5,700), while the strongest gain was in education and health services (+5,600).

Over the year, total nonfarm jobs in Pennsylvania were up 55,000 (+0.9 percent). All seven private service-providing supersectors added jobs from April 2015, while government and two of the three goods-producing supersectors declined. The largest increase from last year was in education and health services (+24,300), while the largest decline was in mining and logging (-9,000).