As Pennsylvania's jobless rate edges up, Philly sees sharp climb
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.

Pennsylvania's jobless rate has inched up over the past year as the unemployed enter a grim job market.
Why it matters: The past three months saw the weakest job creation in the U.S., outside of the pandemic, since 2010 in the wake of the global financial crisis.
State of play: The Commonwealth's unemployment rate was 4% in July, up from 3.6% at the same time in 2024, per the most recent preliminary and seasonally adjusted data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Yes, but: Philly proper and the region are faring worse.
- Within Philly's limits, the jobless rate continued to climb in July, hitting 5.7%.
- And throughout the region —spanning chunks of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland — unemployment stood at 4.9% in July, an increase from the previous month.
Meanwhile, the national average has hovered between 4% and 4.2% for the past 12 months.
The big picture: The states with the lowest unemployment rates are South Dakota (1.9%), North Dakota (2.5%) and Vermont (2.6%), BLS data shows.
- While D.C. (6%); California (5.5%) and Nevada (5.4%) had the highest.
Threat level: The number of long-term unemployed has risen sharply in previous years, per the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
- Plus: A quarter of unemployed workers have been out of a job 27 weeks — that's more than six months — or longer.
Another troubling sign: The white-collar employment picture is also bleak. Employment in professional and business services has steadily declined this year, after surging in the post-pandemic era, Axios' Emily Peck reports.
- Employees are reporting high job anxiety. There's also increasing fear that AI will come for their jobs.
What we're watching: "Job hugging" is the latest employment trend that's replaced job hopping in this era of rising unemployment and challenging job prospects.

