Bad news
Well, the state Department of Labor and Industry released the unemployment numbers for April this week, and the news wasn’t good for residents of Greene, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties.
All four counties saw an increase in their unemployment rates from March, with Fayette and Washington counties both seeing increases of 0.5 percent. Fayette County’s unemployment rate rose from 8.2 percent to 8.7 percent, while Washington County’s rate increased from 6.3 percent to 6.8 percent.
Westmoreland County’s unemployment rate rose from 6 percent in March to 6.3 percent, while Greene County’s rate inched up from 8 percent to 8.1 percent.
Overall, all four counties lagged behind the country and state’s rates of 5 percent and 5.3 percent, respectively.
In comparison to other counties in the state, Fayette tied with Potter County for the highest unemployment rate in Pennsylvania. Greene County was 63rd, while Westmoreland and Washington counties ranked 32nd and 40th, respectively.
Probably the most significant local news from the report concerned Greene County’s rising unemployment rate. Back in November of 2014, Greene County’s unemployment rate stood at 3.9 percent, the lowest in the state. However, the number has increased steadily since then, creeping up to 5.9 percent last April and 7 percent this past February.
It’s no secret that the decline is tied to the problems in both the mining and Marcellus shale industries. The numbers bear that out. Since last April, the county has lost 400 jobs in the mining, logging and construction industries, according to the state report. With a workforce of only 18,000 and a total population of 38,686, even small layoffs can skew the overall economic picture for the county. To lose 400 jobs in one year, though, is a major issue for the county, and local officials must try to remedy the problem as soon as possible.
The state report didn’t detail job losses for counties in the Greater Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area, which includes Fayette, Washington, Westmoreland, Allegheny, Beaver, Armstrong and Butler counties. Overall, the report said the metropolitan area lost 3,000 nonfarm jobs since last month. Over the past year, it has lost 1,700 jobs in the mining and logging industries along with 2,500 jobs in manufacturing industries.
Some of the job losses in the PMA, as in Greene County, can be attributed to the decline of the mining and Marcellus shale industries. However, since the other counties in the PMA are much bigger than Greene County, they were better to absorb the job losses, thus lowering the increases in their unemployment rates.
With gas prices starting to rise, there’s hope the Marcellus shale industry could be on the rebound in the coming months. That could certainly lead to a lowering of unemployment rates in our area. However, the solution is far more complex in Fayette County. Even the advent of the Marcellus shale industry in the county did little to lower the county’s unemployment rate. And now at 8.8 percent, it’s as high as it’s been in years, nearing the double digit rates last experienced in the early 1980s.
Quite simply, lowering that unemployment rate has to be the focus of all local officials. Fayette County’s population continues to drop, at least in part to the county’s high unemployment rate. It’s impossible to live here and raise a family without a job. So, many people have been forced to move elsewhere where jobs are more plentiful. That has to stop if Fayette County’s ever going to start growing again. It’s going to take everyone pushing in the same direction for the turnaround to take place. But it has to be job one. Nothing less than the county’s survival is at stake.