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Employment report: Erie County added manufacturing, education and health services jobs

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5 months ago

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Employment report: Erie County added manufacturing, education and health services jobs

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Erie County’s employment picture continues to improve.

The county’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged for the third straight month at a record low of 3.5%, according to newly released numbers from the state Department of Labor & Industry.

That falls just short of the statewide unemployment rate of 3.4%. Meanwhile, the U.S. unemployment rate rose one-tenth of a percentage point in April to 3.9%.

In relative terms, the unemployment rate has been good for some time. But the most recent employment report highlights some positive changes.

At a time when employers have struggled to find the workers they need, the size of Erie County’s civilian labor force, the number of people who are either working or looking for work, has expanded over the last year, climbing from 125,200 to 127,800. At the same time, the number of people who were counted as unemployed declined slightly, falling by 100 to 3,900.

While month-to-month employment changes were small, comparisons with numbers from 12 months earlier highlight some larger improvements.

In fact, employment grew in five out of 10 job sectors. The biggest gain was in the broad category of education and health services, which added 1,200 jobs for a record high of 30,800 jobs.

The county’s manufacturing sector also marked strong improvements over the last year. Between April of 2023 and April of this year, Erie County added 700 manufacturing jobs, bringing the total to 19,600.

In Crawford County, the unemployment rate fell one-tenth of a percentage point to 3.4%.

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