Department of Numbers

Scranton--Wilkes-Barre--Hazleton, Pennsylvania Unemployment

The BLS reported that the unemployment rate for Scranton fell 1.0 percentage points in November 2020 to 7.6%. For the same month, the metro unemployment rate was 1.0 percentage points higher than the Pennsylvania rate. The unemployment rate in Scranton peaked in April 2020 at 18.4% and is now 10.8 percentage points lower. You can also compare Scranton unemployment with unemployment in other cities.

Unemployment Rate November 2020 Month/Month Year/Year
National 6.7% -0.2 +3.1
Pennsylvania 6.6% -0.8 +2.0
Scranton 7.6% -1.0 +1.7
Note: Metro level data is now seasonally adjusted.1 All comparisons are made with November 2020 data as December metro level unemployment data has not yet been released.

Unemployment Rate: Scranton, Pennsylvania, National

Scranton, Pennsylvania monthly unemployment rate chart

Note: Recessions shown in gray.

Scranton, Pennsylvania Unemployed

The number of people unemployed in Scranton peaked in April 2020 at 50,120. There are now 30,201 fewer people unemployed in the metropolitan area. Scranton employment and jobs data (including jobs lost/gained in Scranton, Pennsylvania) is also available.

Unemployed Persons November 2020 Month/Month Year/Year
Scranton 19,919 -2,626 +3,601

Number of Unemployed Persons

Scranton, Pennsylvania Unemployment History

Date National
Unemployment Rate		 Pennsylvania
Unemployment Rate		 Scranton
Unemployment Rate		 Scranton
Unemployed
December
2020		 6.7% — — —
November
2020		 6.7% 6.6% 7.6% 19,919
October
2020		 6.9% 7.4% 8.6% 22,545
September
2020		 7.8% 8.3% 9.6% 25,442
August
2020		 8.4% 10.4% 11.7% 30,719
July
2020		 10.2% 12.5% 13.8% 36,457
June
2020		 11.1% 13.2% 15.2% 40,200
May
2020		 13.3% 13.4% 15.7% 42,700
April
2020		 14.8% 16.1% 18.4% 50,120
March
2020		 4.4% 5.8% 7.0% 19,634
February
2020		 3.5% 4.7% 5.8% 16,095
January
2020		 3.5% 4.7% 5.8% 16,061

1. Metro area unemployment rates are now seasonally adjusted. The BLS has started publishing smoothed seasonally adjusted metropolitan area data which makes comparisons to state and national data more relevant than the unadjusted numbers. ↩

Data on deptofnumbers.com is for informational purposes only. No warranty or guarantee of accuracy is offered or implied. Contact ben@deptofnumbers.com (or @deptofnumbers on Twitter) if you have any questions, comments or suggestions. Privacy policy.