Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate drops to record low of 3.5% in July

By Capital-Star Staff

HARRISBURG, PA – Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.5% in July, the lowest rate on record (dating back to January 1976), according to state data released on Friday. That’s a decline of three-tenths of a percentage point from June, according to the Department of Labor and Industry, and 0.8% percentage points lower than the July 2022 unemployment rate of 4.3%.

The national unemployment rate was 3.5% in July, a one-tenth of a percentage point drop from June.

In Pennsylvania, non-farm jobs were up 14,400 over the month to a new record high of 6,149,000 in July. It marked the seventh consecutive month that jobs rate has hit a new all-time high.

Across eight of 11 “supersectors” tracked, the number of jobs increased between June and July, with the largest gains in education and health services, which added 6,700 jobs, rising to a new record high level.