Job Market Surges to Record High in Pennsylvania, Boosting Workers’ Earning Power and Union Wages

In April 2024, the job market is reportedly at its strongest point in six decades, according to a study by the Keystone Research Center. The Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry released its preliminary jobs report for April, showing that unemployment remains at a record low of 3.4%. Stephen Herzenberg, the executive director and economist of the Keystone Research Center, stated that this is the strongest job market for workers in Pennsylvania since the 1960s.

The Keystone Research Center is a nonpartisan economic think tank dedicated to research and policies that promote shared prosperity and economic opportunity for all Pennsylvanians. Their study found that the number of nonfarm jobs in Pennsylvania reached a record high of 6,149,500 in April, with an increase of 2,600 jobs from March. This marks the ninth consecutive monthly increase, with Pennsylvania gaining a total of 81,000 jobs over the past year. The state’s unemployment rate now sits at 3.4%, which is half a percentage point below the national rate of 3.9% in April.

Analyst Maisum Murtaza stated that the persistent low unemployment rate gives workers more leverage in the job market, leading to increased buying power for their pay packets each month. The Economic Policy Institute reported that U.S. workers have seen average real wage increases for 12 straight months. Additionally, the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that unionized workers in the U.S. experienced a 6.3% increase in wages in the 12 months ending March 2024 compared to just 4.1% for nonunion workers. This demonstrates how strong the job market has become for workers across the country