Finally some good news in Harrisburg. It’s about time too. With flooding and fiscal issues, the city certainly needs something good to wake up to in the mornings. As the Fall season began, statistics rendered by the state Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) for unemployment in the Harrisburg-Carlisle region (Cumberland, Dauphin and Perry) dropped significantly to a new low of 7.4 percent. This was a reduction of 40 percent, marking the fifth lowest out of the 14 regions in the department’s study. Further, just looking at statistics from the same timeframe a year ago, it was found that unemployment was 30 percent lower. Today the figure is less than the state and national average.
Non-Agricultural Jobs in Trouble
However, the region is still not out of trouble. It seems that farming jobs are somewhat easier to come by, but other areas are still fighting to stay on top. Indeed, in September, the amount of non-farm job vacancies plummeted by 2,600 to 317,500 which was described by the DLI as “the largest decline in a single month since 1990.” That cannot be making the working class of the Harrisburg-Carlisle region very happy.
As well, looking at other industries, leisure and hospitality service jobs also witnessed a significant plummet of 4,400. Mining went down too, but only by 300. According to the DLI, some of these were expected (especially those in the hospitality service areas due to normal seasonal adjustments) but the situation was definitely worsened by the flood damage from tropical storm Lee that was encountered at Hersheypark and restaurants in the area. But there was an increase in job availability in the areas of IT, education and government.
So it seems overall, there is hope for Harrisburg employment but there are still various obstacles the city has to pull down before everyone who is viable to work is in an appropriate job. The city has had a lot to deal with recently; one step at a time needs to be its motto now.
