Chester County’s unemployment rate for September is 4.2 percent, up slightly from the June 3.9 percent figure, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.
Overall the county still fares better than the state, which is showing an unemployment figure of 5.7 percent for September.
Here are a few other fresh local statistics from the state Center for Workforce Information and Analysis. The county’s population was 509,468 in September, and its civilian labor force is 268,700 (11,200 of whom are unemployed).
The per capita personal income is $63,741 compared to the state $45,083 figure. The median household income is $86,184 compared to $52,267 for the state.
Pennsylvania said the top major employers in the county are the Vanguard Group, Inc., Siemens Medical Solutions USA, QVC, Chester County, Chester County Hospital, Main Line Hospitals, Giant Food Stores, the Pennsylvania System of Higher Education, the Chester County Intermediate Unit and the Downingtown Area School District.
For the 11,200 who are unemployed and the companies who might like to hire them, the Chester County CareerLink office is sponsoring several initiatives supporting reemployment efforts for job seekers. These include Hire One, a Financial Stability Center, The Hood, computer literacy classes at the Coatesville Library and Wings for Success. Information is here: http://www.pacareerlinkchesco.org/
More unemployment figures and graphs are on the county’s web site, here: http://www.chesco.org/DocumentCenter/View/20883
