Area jobless rate rises to highest since ‘93

Unemployment in the Philadelphia area, following a national pattern, rose by a half-percentage point in December to 6.7 percent of the labor force, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry reported.

The December level for the area compares with an unemployment rate of 4.5 percent in December 2007 and it the highest since August 1993.

The number of employed people in the area in December dropped by 5,000, while the number unemployed rose by 17,300.

The local area consists of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties in Pennsylvania; Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Salem Counties in New Jersey; New Castle County in Delaware; and Cecil County in Maryland.

For the city of Philadelphia, December's jobless rate rose to 8.6 percent, up from 8.0 percent in November and 6.3 percent in December 2007.

Nationally, unemployment was 7.2 percent in December, four-tenths of a point higher than the month before. The U.S. rate in December 2007 was 4.9 percent.

Within the multi-state Philadelphia area, the highest unemployment rate in December was in Scranton-Wilkes-Barre, at 7.7 percent.