Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate in May was 13.1 percent, which remains far higher than normal but indicates more people are going back to work.
The unemployment rate fell 3 percentage points, down from 16.1 percent in April, the highest level in more than 40 years, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry. The national unemployment rate fell from 14.7 percent in April to 13.3 percent in May.
More than 2 million Pennsylvanians have filed unemployment claims since the coronavirus pandemic emerged in March. Gov. Tom Wolf ordered the closure of businesses across Pennsylvania to slow the spread of the virus.
As Wolf has rolled back coronavirus restrictions in recent weeks, more businesses are reopening and more people are going back on the job.
Pennsylvania’s total non-farm jobs rose by 198,300 to 5,191,400 in May, representing the largest single-month increase on record, the labor department noted.
The biggest gain in May came in the construction industry, which saw an increase of 77,400 jobs. The Wolf administration put construction activity to a halt statewide for several weeks but Wolf allowed construction to resume widely in May. The construction sector has recovered over two-thirds of its March and April losses, the labor department said.
Still, many people remain without work. For comparison, the state’s unemployment rate was only 4.7 percent in February.
The leisure and hospitality industry has been hit especially hard. The labor department noted that sector has dropped 300,100 jobs compared to the same month last year.
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