Local jobless numbers hit 17-year high

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March 30, 2009

By Keith Gushard The Meadville Tribune Mon Mar 30, 2009, 10:55 PM EDT

Another 200 manufacturing jobs disappeared in Crawford County in February, pushing the local unemployment rate to 9 percent — its highest point in 17 years. It’s also driven up the number of calls to the United Way of Western Crawford County.

“It’s as bad as I can remember for a long time,” said Sandy Rossi, the executive in charge of the United Way. “We’re getting more people calling about where to go to get help with utilities, mortgage and rent.”

Before the economy soured, Rossi said the office got about four calls a week. “Now we’re getting four a day,” she said.

Most are from people who previously haven’t had to seek aid, she said.

“This is something new for them and they’ve never thought about it before,” she said.

To help those who’ve never sought help before, the United Way is coordinating a help day today at New Beginnings Church of God, 13226 Leslie Road, from noon to 3 p.m.

The information will feature every thing from utility, food and housing assistance to employment services and unemployment compensation.

The continuing recession drove Crawford County’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate to 9 percent for February — the highest it’s been since August 1992 when it was 9.6 percent, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.

The number of manufacturing jobs in the county fell to 7,100 in February, down from 7,300 in January and down from 7,600 in December. In February 2008, there were 7,800 manufacturing jobs.

Crawford County is more heavily reliant on manufacturing than the state or nation. More than 20 percent of the jobs in the county are related to manufacturing, compared to about 12 percent for the state and 11 percent nationally.

“We don’t expected to see any turn-around soon,” said Lauren Nimal, a state labor market analyst, said of the decline of manufacturing jobs.

Many of Crawford County’s manufacturing jobs are tied to the tooling and machining industry. While they don’t make the end-products themselves, these firms supply tools, equipment and parts to major manufacturers.

The county’s seasonally adjusted total labor force did grow in February to 43,500, with 39,500 employed and 3,900 unemployed (the numbers may not total correctly due to rounding). In January, the total labor force was 43,100, with 39,500 employed and 3,600 unemployed.

The county’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 9.0 percent for February is higher than Pennsylvania’s rate of 7.5 percent and the national rate of 8.1 percent for February.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rates for most of the other counties in northwestern Pennsylvania rose in February. Both Lawrence and Mercer counties rates went down slightly.

The rates, listed for February, then January were: Erie, 7.8, 7.2; Forest, 10.2, 9.5; Lawrence, 8.1, 8.3; McKean, 9.0, 8.6; Mercer, 9.3, 9.7; Venango, 8.2, 7.5; and Warren, 7.2, 7.0.

Keith Gushard can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at kgushard@meadvilletribune.com.

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Local jobless numbers hit 17-year high

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