Pittsburgh region lost jobs, workers in August

The seven-county Pittsburgh region shed jobs and lost workers in August as the economy continues to remain far below the pre-pandemic levels in terms of jobs and those who are working or seeking work, state data shows.

“There’s not much shift in the numbers. We’ve pretty much plateaued since last fall,” said Chris Briem, regional economist at the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Social and Urban Research.

The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.2% for August in Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties, as adjusted for seasonal hiring factors, the state’s Center for Workforce Information and Analysis said Tuesday. By comparison, the seasonally adjusted jobless rate for August 2020 was 10.2%.

The number of nonfarm jobs dropped to 1.12 million, down 3,100 from July, but 41,000 more than in August 2020. That is a 4.2% increase from a year ago, said Jim Futrell, vice president for market research analysis at the Allegheny Conference on Community Development. Employment is at 94% of what it was two years ago, Futrell said, but that trend has remained the same for the past three months.

From the perspective of Frank Gamrat, executive director of the Allegheny Institute on Public Policy, the economy’s recovery from the pandemic “is slow moving, as slow of a glacial pace as one can find.”

The labor force in the seven counties lost 7,200 workers — those on the job or seeking work — in August, even though there was ample notice that the extra federal unemployment benefits would end before Labor Day. The labor force shrank to 1.76 million in August, 5,700 more than in August 2020, but 42,000 fewer people than in August 2019, before the covid pandemic shook the economy.

Futrell attributed some of the drop in the labor force to the normal decline in seasonal jobs in August, as summer comes to an end and students return to school.

But, “it’s a worrisome trend for those who are trying to fill positions,” Gamrat said. The jobs that are being filled, Gamrat said, are not being taken by new people returning to the labor force.

While employers were hoping that the end of the extra federal unemployment compensation might spur more people to return to work, Briem said he did not believe many economists were expecting the labor force to increase with the end of those benefits. Many workers retired during the pandemic and, for the August data, college students had yet to return to campuses, which would spur more economic activity.

Butler had the lowest jobless rate in August at 5.6% among the seven counties in the region. Allegheny had 5.9%, up 0.1 of a percentage point from July, but down from 10.3% in August 2020. Westmoreland had a 6.2% jobless rate in August, up from 6.1% in July, but down from 9.5% in August 2020.