Blair’s jobless numbers still at 7.2
By Walt Frank, wfrank@altoonamirror.comBlair County's unemployment rate for April remained unchanged from the previous month at 7.2 percent, the state Department of Labor and Industry said.
This was the first time in six months that the rate has not increased, although from April 2008, Blair County's unemployment rate rose 2.5 percentage points.
Blair's rate has stayed below the Pennsylvania rate (7.8 percent) and the United States rate (8.9 percent) every month this year.
Centre County's unemployment rate rose by one-tenth of a percentage point in April to 5.7 percent. This is the highest unemployment rate for the county since May 1986, when the rate was 6.3 percent. The county has had the state's lowest unemployment rate for five straight months and is the only one to have an unemployment rate under 6.0 percent throughout 2009.
Cameron County, at 16.4 percent - down from 16.8 percent - has the highest rate of Pennsylvania's 67 counties.
Meanwhile, in Huntingdon County the unemployment rate dropped from 11.1 percent in March to 10.8 percent in April, the only local county to see a decline.
"It looks like the unemployment rate is starting to moderate in Huntingdon County. We are seeing some positive signs in the Huntingdon County labor market," said Ryan Horner, Department of Labor business analyst. "Huntingdon County has taken their lumps. They were due for a little bit of positive news."
Elsewhere in the past month, the unemployment rate in Bedford County increased from 11.5 percent to 11.8 percent; the jobless rate in Cambria County increased from 8.5 percent to 8.7 percent; and Clearfield County's rate increased from 9.9 percent to 10 percent.
Mirror Staff Writer Walt Frank is at 946-7467.
