Employment is among the last parts of the economy to improve when a recovery takes hold.
As much as we fixate on weekly jobless-claims data and the monthly employment report, most of us want more clarity on what's happening in our own regions.
One way to examine where the jobs are (or aren't) is through a quarterly report issued by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Its Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages data is based on unemployment-insurance records.
The latest data for the second quarter of 2011 were released Tuesday, and they provide a county-level look at employment and wages based on the documentation employers supply when filing their quarterly taxes.
I looked at data for the core eight-county region of Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties in Pennsylvania, and Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester Counties in New Jersey.
Collectively, regional employment of 2.29 million in June 2011 was down 0.2 percent - the loss of about 3,800 jobs. Call it flat, but it's disappointing, given that the nation showed job growth of 0.9 percent on a year-over-year basis.
Employment rose in three counties, with the city eking out a 0.1 percent gain. Delaware County increased 0.9 percent, while Chester County was tops in job creation with a 1.3 percent gain.
Where did job growth occur in Chester County? The information sector recorded an 8.9 percent increase. Still, it's a small sector with just 4,910 employees in June 2011, up from 4,507 in June 2010.
Another strength for the westernmost county was its leisure and hospitality sector, which had 19,371 employees in June 2011, up 3.2 percent from the same month in 2010.
Philadelphia remained the largest of the eight local counties in terms of employment, at 630,300 in June 2011, up 0.1 percent from the previous year.
The education and health-services sector accounted for 195,037 employees, or nearly one-third of the city's employment base.
Although "eds and meds" added more than 3,000 jobs, or 1.6 percent, year over year, the city's leisure and hospitality (up 3.2 percent) and professional and business services (up 2.3 percent) sectors were the hottest amid a lukewarm economic recovery.
Five counties in the region suffered declines in employment, including Montgomery County, which has long had the second-largest employment base (464,700 jobs in June 2011) behind Philadelphia. Employment declined 0.4 percent in Montgomery County as well as in Bucks County.
The three South Jersey counties all experienced declines in employment: Camden (down 1.1 percent), Gloucester (down 1.4 percent), and Burlington (down 1.6 percent).
The information sector, a strength for Chester County, was a major source of weakness for Burlington County. Employment in that sector retreated 7.2 percent, to 2,466 workers. The trade, transportation, and utilities sector shed 1,000 jobs, or 2.3 percent, to 43,194 jobs in Burlington County.
Contact columnist Mike Armstrong at 215-854-2980
or @PhillyInc on Twitter.
Read his blog, "PhillyInc," at www.phillyinc.biz.
