Pittsburgh-Area Jobless Rate Dips Below 8 Percent

By Joyce Gannon, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


Holiday hiring in the retail sector helped boost the jobs report for December in the Pittsburgh area as the unemployment rate fell to 7.9 percent. That's down from a jobless rate of 8.1 percent in November 2010, and 8.2 percent in December 2009. The local rate remained lower than both the state and federal unemployment rates in December, which stood at 8.5 percent and 9.4 percent, respectively.

Compared with December 2009, there were 9,000 more jobs in the Pittsburgh region -- the largest yearly jump since August 2007, according to the state Department of Labor & Industry, which released the numbers today.

"The Pittsburgh region continues to do a bit better than the rest of the state," said Mark Price, a labor economist with the Keystone Research Center in Harrisburg. "If you look at averages, for the past three months the region was adding around 900 jobs a month. That's a fairly healthy number."

Despite the overall improvement, seasonally adjusted nonfarm jobs in the Pittsburgh region fell for the first time in three months, the state Department of Labor & Industry reported. The number of nonfarm jobs fell by 200 to a total 1.1 million.

Mr. Price called that a "blip" in the ongoing recovery. "We are in a recovery, and the expectation is we'll continue to add jobs in the months ahead," he said.

Among the data not seasonally adjusted, goods-producing jobs in the region dropped by 4,400 to 143,200. The state attributed most of that decline to a loss of 4,200 construction jobs. Manufacturing jobs fell by 200 to 85,700, marking the first time since July that manufacturing jobs declined.

Although seasonal retail hiring grew, it was the smallest December increase in retail hiring since 1992, the report said.

Another sector that showed a significant drop from November to December was professional and business services, which lost a total of 900 jobs. The big declines came in administrative and support services.

The Pittsburgh metropolitan area, which has 1.2 million people in its civilian labor force, includes Allegheny, Butler, Beaver, Armstrong, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties. Of those, Fayette had the highest unemployment rate in December at 10.2 percent; and Butler had the lowest at 7.3 percent.

In both Allegheny County and the city of Pittsburgh, the jobless rate stood at 7.5 percent for the month. Among major labor markets statewide, Scranton-Wilkes Barre had the highest unemployment rate at 9.5 percent and State College had the lowest at 5.8 percent.

The Pittsburgh region has lost a total of 27,000 jobs since before the recession started in 2007, said Mr. Price. "So it's still a healthy wait" to get those jobs back, he noted. "The recession was so deep, it will take longer than normal."

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11032/1121981-407.stm

U.S. December ADP employment up 297,000

From MarketWatch

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Private-sector employment gained 297,000 in December, according to Automatic Data Processing Inc.'s employment report released Wednesday. Employment in the service-producing sector rose 270,000, the largest monthly increase on record. Employment in the goods-producing sector rose 27,000, the largest gain since February of 2006. On Friday, the government will report on December's nonfarm payrolls, which also include government workers, and economists polled by MarketWatch are looking for a gain of 143,000, and for the unemployment rate to remain at 9.8%.

Whatever happened to casual days at work?

By Eve Tahmincioglu
msnbc.com

Last week, a 43-page dress and grooming code at Swiss bank UBS was leaked to the media, and the rules included everything from touching up hair dye jobs to the quality of an employee’s underwear.


While there was outrage over the draconian nature of the guidelines, such appearance mandates are becoming more prevalent in the workplace.

Restrictions on the way workers dress and groom themselves have long been a contentious issue in the nation’s workplaces, but in most cases such guidelines have been found to be legal. And the rules governing employee appearance are only getting tougher thanks to the weaker economy.

“Dress codes are tightening up,” said Dick Lerner, author of “Dress Like The Big Fish.” “The takeaway from this recession is the reality most firms are doing more with less. For survival, there has been a lot of belt-tightening and companies look at every aspect of their business, and that includes who will keep their job and who won’t,” he said.

As a result, Lerner added, “Sloppy dress in the workplace is gone. Businesses can’t afford sloppy dress, sloppy work, sloppy attitude.”

Indeed, some firms are ratcheting up the fashion police.

UBS got a lot of negative publicity when its 43-page dress-and-grooming edict got out. The over-the-top rules included restrictions on the length of male employees’ nails; when female employees are supposed to put on perfume and how much; and they even mandated the color of worker underwear and said the undergarments should be “of superior quality textiles,” according to a report in the Christian Science Monitor last week. (UBS officials declined to comment for this column.)

Lindsey Sparks’ last job with a staffing firm in Oklahoma City had a restrictive dress code policy that required female employees to wear skirt suits and pantyhose at all times, even if they worked on weekends. And there was even a manager at the company that chastised workers for not wearing lipstick.

“Their dress code was so sexist I’m not sure why I put up with it as long as I did,” said Sparks, who left Express Employment Professionals in June after eight years with the company.

“Although I left the company amicably,” Sparks said. “I’m still appalled by the dress code.”

Read More...

Pittsburgh Unemployment Rate Drops To 7.9% in September

HARRISBURG (NOVEMBER 2) – The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the seven-county Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) was down three-tenths of a percentage point in September to 7.9 percent. The MSA’s rate was 1.1 percentage points below Pennsylvania’s rate (9.0%). The last time the Pittsburgh MSA rate was that far below the state rate was June 1978. The area rate was also lower than the national rate of 9.6 percent. The Pittsburgh MSA’s unemployment rate matched last September’s rate. This was the first time since November 2007 that the area rate did not show an over-the-year increase.


Unemployment rates decreased from August in six of the seven counties in the Pittsburgh MSA. Butler County posted the lowest rate in the MSA at 7.4 percent while Fayette County held the area’s highest rate at 9.6 percent. Among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, unemployment rates ranged from 6.1 percent in Centre County to 14.3 percent in Cameron County.

In September, seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs in the Pittsburgh MSA declined 800 to 1,118,100. Jobs fell in nine of Pennsylvania’s 14 MSAs. Over the year, Pittsburgh MSA jobs increased by 4,800 (0.4%) and the state added 34,500 jobs (0.6%).
 
Goods producers added 800 jobs from last September. Mining & logging was up 500 jobs over the year (9.1%). Manufacturing continued to show an over-the-year decline, but it has been consistently shrinking since last September.
 
Service-providing jobs were up 9,300 from August. The majority of this increase was due to seasonal education-related gains. Education & health services, state government, and local government all added jobs as the new academic year began. Seasonal declines occurred in retail trade, professional & business services, leisure & hospitality, and other services. The federal government decline of 500 was due mainly to the census nearing completion.

Service providers had 6,200 more jobs than in September 2009. Education & health services and professional & business services experienced the largest over-the-year gains in the area.

Marsellus Shale Jobs And Much More Come To CONSOL Energy Center In Pittsburgh

Atlas Energy, Range Resources, EnergyForce, Express Energy Services and Duncan Land + Energy have signed up for the Pittsburgh Diversity Employment Expo on October 26th at CONSOL Energy Center bringing Marcellus Shale jobs to the Pittsburgh region. With positions such as land technicians, drilling engineers, geologists, roustabouts and many more available this is a great opportunity for Pittsburgh area residents to investigate job requirements and training opportunities as well as application processes and to make that first great impression. The job fair is free for all job seekers and open from 10:00AM to 3:00PM.


Over 60 companies and schools are expected to attend offering 100's of jobs in a wide variety of experience levels and industries. Pittsburgh's largest public job fair in over 4 years will also offer jobs in Banking/Finance, Customer Service, Retail, Sales, Healthcare, Nursing, Social Services, Manufacturing, Drivers and much more. Job seekers can pre-register here (pre- registration is not required but offers faster job fair entry). Sorry, no backpacks or strollers allowed.


Other companies and schools attending include:
84 Lumber
Aerotek/Allegis Group
Aldi's
All-State Career School
Aramark CONSOL Energy Center
Arc Human Services
Army National Guard
Atlas Energy
Baptist Homes
Bradford Child Care / Tender Care Learning Centers
CBCInnovis
CBCS
Cardworks Servicing
Community College of Allegheny County
Cintas
Citizen Care, Inc
City of Pittsburgh
Concordia of the South Hills
Dollar Bank
Duncan Land + Energy
EnergyForce
Everest Institute
Express Employment Professionals
Express Energy Services/ EES
Face 2 Face Sales Solutions
First National Bank of PA
Gallagher Home Health Services
Geneva College
Glade Run Lutheran Services
Goodwill
Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council
HVL Douglas, LLC
Institute for Transfusion Med./Central Blood Bank
Kaplan Career Institute
Life Pittsburgh
Lifesteps, Inc.
Mainstay Life Services
Medix Staffing Solutions
Mercy Behavioral Health
Stonemore Partners/Mt. Lebanon Cemetery
New Horizons Computer Learning Center
Parkvale Bank
People's Natural Gas
Pittsburgh Job Corp Center
Pittsburgh Tech. Institute-PTI
PRC Corporation
Primerica
Prudential Financial
Quest Diagnostics
Range Resources - Appalachia
RAS Delivery Services
Reliance First Capital LLC
Renewal, Inc
Sanford Brown School
SMG Management
South Hills / North Hills Beauty Academy
Southwestern Pa Commission CommuteInfo
Southwood Psychiatric Hospital
The Academy
Three Rivers Center for Independent Living (TRCL)
Transitional Service Inc
US Army
U.S. Liner
US Navy
Vector Marketing
Waste Management, Inc
Westin Convention Center


Companies who want more information on attending the job fair please email pittsburghjobs@gmail.com

Pittsburgh Diversity Employment Expo Moves to CONSOL Energy Center

After dozens of successful job fairs over the past 10 years at Mellon Arena, Heinz field and PNC Park, the Pittsburgh Diversity Employment Expo is moving to CONSOL Energy Center with the next event slated for Tuesday, October 26th, 2010.

Produced by the Pittsburgh office of EmploymentGuide.com, in association with The Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh, Over 30,000 job seekers have attended the events with more than 10% getting job offers! Other partners include the Veteran's Affairs burough of Allegheny County and AARP Foundation WorkSearch.

The job fair is free for all job seekers and will be open from 10:00AM to 3:00PM.  Entry is through the Trib Total Media gate then up the escalators to the right.

More than 35 companies and schools are expected to attend and include sales, customer service, hospitality, Healthcare and Nursing, social services, manufacturing, banking/finance and more.

A list of companies and schools attending will be published here about two weeks out from the event.

Pittsburgh Loses Jobs In July (but fewer than in "typical" July)

The July unemployment figures just released show that Pittsburgh lost just over 15,000 jobs in July. On the surface this is bad news. However, when looking at historical numbers, Pittsburgh ALWAYS loses jobs in July as teachers and other government workers are laid off for the summer (with census workers adding even more to this number than usual). Pittsburgh lost fewer jobs this July than the past five year July average.


The good news is that this is the first month in over two years that Pittsburgh had more jobs (4,400 more) than the year ago period. Particular strength was seen in Education and Healthcare (+2,300), retail (+1,700) and Leisure and Hospitality (+1,400).

For more detail visit http://bit.ly/bwnvBS