Rendell: PA Jobs Rise by 34,000 in April

Largest monthly increase since 1996

Harrisburg – Pennsylvania’s economy expanded by adding 34,000 jobs in April, Governor Edward G. Rendell said today.

“This is the largest monthly increase in jobs since February 1996,” Governor Rendell said. “Over the past two months, Pennsylvania employers added 54,000 new jobs.”

The majority of the job growth was in the service-providing industries, which include education, health care and financial services. The strongest sign that the recovery is finally taking hold is the job growth in the manufacturing sector.

“President Obama’s Economic Stimulus program is working and it’s a key reason that the recession is finally behind us. In the month of April, our factories added 4,400 jobs,” noted the Governor. “April marked the third straight monthly increase in factory jobs – something that hasn’t happened in four years. 

“We know that on top of the approximately 6,000 Pennsylvanians hired to perform stimulus road, bridge and transit construction projects during our construction season, another 2,000 Pennsylvanians were hired in our factories to fabricate the steel, concrete and asphalt needed for those projects.

“Pennsylvania’s relatively strong showing in the recession, with lower job losses than most states, is good news for our families. But it was not an accident. We’ve worked very hard to help struggling companies stay afloat by moving our federal stimulus out the door into capital projects that employed Pennsylvanians. And we matched Stimulus funds with additional state funds to repair bridges and water systems. All of that investment, at just the right time, paid off for our families.”

Governor Rendell also noted that while Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate is still too high, the rate – at 9.0 percent – is still below the overall unemployment rate for the nation.

“The fact that our unemployment rate is below the national rate is another indication that we are on the right path to economic recovery.  Our unemployment rate is lower than any other industrial state. It’s good news for Pennsylvanians that our unemployment rate has been at or below the national rate for 85 of the past 88 months and, for this month, it’s almost a full point below the national rate.”