Develop a skilled workforce that meets the needs of Pennsylvania's business community

Promote access to good-paying jobs for all Pennsylvanians

Create career pathways to fast-growing, 21st century jobs

In Pennsylvania, as in many other places, job-seekers and employers face the shared challenge of a worker shortage. There are currently more job openings than there are available workers to fill them. Both job-seekers and employers must overcome significant barriers for Pennsylvania to close that gap. Five key barriers have been identified through the Command Center's work: child care, transportation, training, reentry, and professional licensure.

Welcome to the Keystone Economic Development and Workforce Command Center Data Dashboard. The Command Center, created by executive order of Governor Tom Wolf in February 2019, brings an innovative approach to addressing the critical issue of training qualified workers for the jobs Pennsylvania companies need to fill.
Here you will find data related to four themes:
Economic Drivers of Pennsylvania's workforce outcomes, such as local employment growth and business activity;
Information on Pennsylvania's Labor Force, including the state's unemployment and labor force participation rates;
The performance of Pennsylvania's Education and Training programs; and
Barriers to employment for Pennsylvania job-seekers.
Content for the Data Dashboard is updating continually, so please check back often. For more information on the Keystone Economic Development and Workforce Command Center, visit the Command Center website at https://www.pasmart.gov/command-center/

The data represents the percent change in wages for an individual who has wages recorded in the Unemployment Compensation (UC) wage record file in the quarter in which they completed Industry Partnership training and wages found in the UC wage record file for that individual four quarters later. The change could be an increase or a decrease in wages. For example, if an individual completed training in the third quarter of 2013 and earned $5,000 in that quarter and earned $7,500 in the third quarter of 2014 the percent change for that individual would be 50%. The file incudes a count of all individuals who benefited from industry partnership training, the workforce development area of the industry partnership, the training program completed and the percentage change in wages per individual training. The top line of the file includes the overall percentage change for all trainings.

*The goal for Labor & Industry is based on receiving $10 million to fund Industry Partnerships.

This dataset is for Program Year 2013-2017 and will be updated annually due to federal release schedule.
There are many reasons why an individual’s wage may have changed dramatically. Some of the reasons for negative wage changes or large increases in wages are listed below (not an exhaustive list).
• An individual may have left the job, was laid off, or retired within the year after they were trained.
• An individual may have become ill and left work.
• An individual may have accepted a job in or moved to another state.
• An individual may have been working two jobs and switched to one, or vice versa.
• An individual’s hours may have been reduced/increased during a quarter.
• Overtime hours may have been reduced/increased during a quarter.
• An individual may have taken family leave.
• A bonus could have been paid right after training was completed.
• Wage records may not have been reported.
• An employer may have closed and laid off all of their employees.

Pennsylvania faces a changing economy that's placing new demands on our workers and businesses. Employers are hiring, but the job-skills gap in today's workforce too often leads to a shortage of qualified job candidates. At the same time, too many workers are employed in low-wage jobs and lack the training they need to compete for in-demand careers. To meet these common challenges, state government, the education sector, labor, and industry must all work together to close the skills gap and build a well-trained workforce.

Local area labor force information. Information by calendar year including labor force, employed, unemployed, and unemployment rate. Statewide and county statistics.

Pennsylvania's current low unemployment rate has created a tight labor market with a shortage of job applicants. Looking ahead, slow population growth and an anticipated surge in retirements present an urgent need to attract more skilled workers to our commonwealth, retain the ones who are already here, and prepare the next generation of workers for in-demand careers.

Our workforce demands are driven by the companies that make up our commonwealth. Knowing how and where growth is happening in a constantly evolving economy is critical to moving Pennsylvania forward.