Months after the rest of the country, Pa. has finally returned to its pre-pandemic job market

After nearly three years, Pennsylvania has returned to the employment level it had before the COVID-19 pandemic caused a sharp and unexpected drop-off.

The state lost 1.1 million jobs in March and April 2020. As of January 2023, more than 100% of those jobs had been recovered, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry announced Friday.

It’s a milestone that the U.S. economy reported in July.

“Pennsylvania lagging behind the nation is actually not something new,” said Lauren Riegel, a statistician with the Pennsylvania Department of Industry and Labor. “This is something that we tend to see during most recessions and in general. Prior to the pandemic, Pennsylvania’s job growth was slower than the national job growth.”

Pennsylvania has an older population relative to other states, which means it has a more limited workforce, she added.

The state’s civilian labor force added 8,000 people last month. That includes residents working and those looking for work, which means some of those 8,000 people are unemployed. Pennsylvania’s labor force still hasn’t reached its pre-pandemic level.

In short, the number of filled jobs in Pennsylvania has returned to pre-pandemic levels, but the number of people who are working or trying to get a job has not rebounded fully.

The state’s unemployment rate increased slightly, to 4.4%. Unemployment in Pennsylvania was at its lowest level ever just a few months ago, when it hit 3.9% in December.

The number of nonfarm jobs in Pennsylvania reached a record high of 6,094,400 in February.

“We’ve really been showing steady growth and we really don’t have any indication that that is going to reverse,” Riegel said.

While the job recovery is a major milestone for Pennsylvania, a few industries are still lagging their pre-pandemic numbers. Those include education and health services, and leisure and hospitality.

The education and health services sector has added 53,600 jobs in the last year, but that’s still not enough, industry leaders say.

Chris Lilienthal, executive director of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, said low pay is likely a major reason it’s difficult to hire new teachers and other school staff. So is stress, which is further exacerbated by low staffing levels.

“The district is having a difficult time replacing support staff and professionals that retire or resign,” Lilienthal said. “We really do need to look at how we can make these jobs competitive with the private sector.”

The concern, if shortages persist, is that education quality will decline if schools lack enough teachers to maintain ideal classroom sizes and offer all the subjects students need, he said. It’s becoming a problem in nearly all Pennsylvania school districts, he noted.

Stress and burnout have also been major factors in health care since before the pandemic, said Kristen Sandel, president of the Pennsylvania Medical Society, and COVID-19 only increased the demands and risks of jobs. Many people retired earlier than they originally planned, she said, and younger workers switched out of clinical roles.

At the same time, some health care systems are consolidating. Facilities have been closing, causing job losses for some, but, Sandel noted “the patients aren’t going away.” On the contrary, health care leaders are concerned about not having enough young people entering the medical field to keep up with need expected as the population ages.

“We feel like we’re behind,” Sandel said.

While leisure and hospitality still lags February 2020 employment, this sector saw a bigger gain in Pennsylvania last month than any other industry, with 3,000 jobs added.

Pennsylvania’s COVID-19 mitigation strategy was a major challenge for this industry, said Ben Fileccia, senior vice president of strategy and engagement at the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association. The rules varied by county and changed over time, which created uncertainty and made it hard to hire people, he said.

“It’s obviously a lot better now than it was in 2020 and even 2021,” but even before that, restaurant operators were already struggling to hire staff, he noted. Now “it’s starting to feel like 2019 again.”