Clinton County Employment Picture Improves

HARRISBURG, PA – Clinton County’s unemployment numbers continued to improve during the month of October, according to information released Tuesday by the state Department of Labor & Industry.

Clinton County had a 6.9% unemployment reading for October, down from the 7.5% listed in September. October’s number is the lowest since February, and marks the sixth straight month that the number has decreased since a pandemic high of 16.6% in April. Clinton County had an estimated 1,200 unemployed during October. Centre County had a 4.4% unemployment rate for October, which was the lowest reading for the state’s 67 counties. Clinton’s October number came in at No. 28 for the state. The commonwealth’s October rate was 7.3%.

“One of the more important numbers is that an estimated 100 more Clinton County residents were working in October as compared to September and that’s good news,” said Clinton County Economic Partnership President Mike Flanagan. “But we also may have lost people off the rolls when the benefits expire. But the fact that we are getting to close to pre-virus unemployed and employed numbers is encouraging.

“We also have to keep an eye on the traditional seasonal layoffs, and our first time unemployment insurance claims and continued claims numbers seem to bounce around like a basketball. Although the numbers are better in most areas, we should note that Clinton County is still a full point behind the 5.8% unemployment rate recorded in October 2019.”