The Coronavirus pandemic and related stay-at-home orders resulted in drastic changes for the unemployment levels in Pennsylvania during the month of April.

The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry has released “PA Monthly Workstats,” which provides readers with the April 2020 unemployment statistics. The report shows that, for the month of April, unemployment in Pennsylvania was 15.1%. This was a significant increase from March, when the unemployment rate was 5.8%. Meanwhile, statewide employment was 5,476,000, a drop from the previous month, when the job count was 6,163,000. According to statistics, this drop of 687,000 made April’s employment the lowest it has been since December of 1992.

A total of 768,980 initial claims were filed for unemployment, a jump from the month of March.

In comparison, the April unemployment rate for the nation was 14.7%, with unemployment at 23,078,000.

According to PA Monthly Workstats, Elk County had the largest over-the-year increase in unemployment, with an increase of 21.7 percentage points. The state’s average was 11.0 percentage points, with 50 of the 57 counties in Pennsylvania exceeding the state average.

The volume of unemployment increased in Elk County by 612.1%, compared to the state’s increase of 265.4 % over the year. These statistics highlight the fact that April 2019, in stark contrast to April this year, saw Pennsylvania at almost full employment, with very low levels of unemployment.

Both Elk and Cameron counties reported over 20% unemployment rate increases for April 2020, while McKean County was in the 17.6-20% range and Potter County was in the 15.5-17.5% range for increased unemployment.

On a related note, the Appalachian Regional Commission has released “The Appalachian Region: A Data Overview from the 2014-2018 American Community Survey Chartbook,” known more familiarly as “The Chartbook.”

The data in this report showed employment in the Appalachian Region and compared it to the national average. According to a breakdown of the data collected, 73% of the adult workforce in the Appalachian Region (ages 25-64) participate in the civilian workforce. This is slightly lower than the national rate of 77.6%. However, 31.9% of Appalachian region residents are forced to work outside the county they live in, which is higher than the national rate of 27.7% of US workers required to commute to work in another county.

The unemployment rates in Appalachia are divided into regions, with the highest rate recorded in Central Appalachia at 6.9%. North Central Appalachia comes next, with 5.2%, followed by Southern Appalachia and South Central Appalachia, both with 4.7% and Northern Appalachia with 4.6%.

This information shows that the Appalachian Region was holding its own in regard to employment, prior to the Coronavirus pandemic and related closures, which have had long-reaching effects and resulted in the permanent closure of many businesses.

The Appalachian Region includes 13 states, one of which is Pennsylvania, 420 counties and 25.7 million residents. Southern and South Central Appalachia continue to show population growth, at rates of 6.7% and 3.9%, respectively. Meanwhile, the northern areas of Appalachia show population decline at rates of 2.6%(northern), 1.2% (north central) and 3% (central).