The Great Recession has hit Pennsylvania families hard. Economy Track provides up-to-date information on the state of the Pennsylvania economy. To the right, you will find current data on unemployment rates and the change in employment since the start of the recession. As you move down the page, you will find links to a heat map that tracks the monthly change in unemployment by county in Pennsylvania.

DECEMBER 2011

Despite the official end of the “Great Recession” in June 2009, employment continues to lag pre-recession levels. 

As of December 2011, Pennsylvania's unemployment rate is 7.6%. Total nonfarm jobs is 5,699,100.

A wide range of forecasters are predicting a prolonged period of high unemployment. National policymakers, meanwhile, are unwilling to take the additional steps necessary to boost demand and employment.

OTHER RESOURCES

Many Families Turn to Public Services in Recession

While the recession is officially over, many Pennsylvania families are still struggling to make ends meet. The state unemployment rate is high, overall work hours are down, and more people are losing their health insurance.

As a result, more Pennsylvanians are turning to the Commonwealth for help with basic necessities and health care for themselves and their children. At the link below, you will find tables showing how public services are filling the gap created by the economic slowdown in the private sector.

Learn more.

Poverty and Uninsured Rates

As the recession took its toll in 2010, more Pennsylvanians and Americans fell into poverty, saw their incomes decline and joined the ranks of the uninsured, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Learn more.

American Recovery Act

On February 17, 2009, President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which invests $787 billion over two years to bring the U.S. economy back from the brink of collapse. The Recovery Act is credited with halting the economic freefall that hit Pennsylvania and the nation in the fall of 2008, retaining jobs and providing a foundation for future growth.

View resources on the Recovery Act from a January 2010 conference hosted by the Keystone Research Center.