Pennsylvania Reports Largest Increase in Initial Jobless Claims

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Pennsylvania had the largest increase in initial jobless claims for the week ending November 3 - up 7,766.

The DOL's Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report attributes the increase to "layoffs in the construction, transportation, manufacturing, and the food and beverage manufacturing industries."

Overall, the DOL reports "the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 439,000, an increase of 78,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 361,000."

Other states experiencing increases were: Ohio (+6,450), New Jersey (+5,675), Michigan (+2,373), and Connecticut (+1,783).

State with the largest decreases were California (-8,149), New York (-2,241), Florida (-939), Georgia (-913), and Indiana (-603).

The U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics reports Pennsylvania's unemployment rate is 8.2 percent (September 2012) and Lehigh County's rate is 8.4 percent (September 2012) down .2 percent from September 2011.

The United States' unemployment rate is 7.9 percent (September 2012).