HARRISBURG – Gov. Edward G. Rendell said today that Pennsylvania’s job outlook showed improvement with the addition of 2,200 jobs in May. The increase brought the state’s job count to its second-highest level on record at 5,798,300 – just 200 jobs shy of March’s record-setting total. Pennsylvania has added 48,600 jobs since May 2006 and has seen a net gain of 170,100 jobs since January 2003.
“Since taking office, Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate2 has been at or below the national rate for 43 out of 53 months – more than 80 percent of the time,” Rendell said. “This, coupled with the strength and growth of our job count, are positive indicators that our efforts to improve the quality of our workforce and expand the state’s business climate are indeed working.
“We are seeing strong job growth in the service providing industries – especially the education and health services sector, which has added nearly 28,000 jobs in the last year,” the governor said. “We have the opportunity to continue fueling that growth with investments such as the Jonas Salk Legacy Fun, which would create more than 13,000 high-paying jobs and inject $1 billion into the commonwealth’s economy at zero cost to the taxpayers.”
Investments through the Salk fund proposal will greatly strengthen Pennsylvania’s reputation as an international center for biotechnology research and development.
Passage of the proposal would also allow the commonwealth to keep pace with competitor states like New York, which is investing $2 billion in its biosciences industry. Ohio, Massachusetts and California also have either enacted or proposed substantial investments in the biosciences. In the past year, Pennsylvania has already slipped to fifth place from being ranked fourth in the amount of National Institutes of Health funding the state receives.
“It is important for us to take advantage of the segments of the economy, such as the education and health services in which Pennsylvania has a competitive advantage,” Rendell said. “At the same time, we have realized the valuable asset we have in our abundance of natural resources. My Energy Independence Strategy works to take make the most of the environmental and economical opportunities that exist in Pennsylvania through alternative energy.”
Rendell’s Energy Independence Strategy, which has already created more than 2,500 jobs in renewable energy production and technology, is projected to generate 13,000 new jobs and $3.5 billion in new private investment.
“The jobs created in manufacturing, construction, engineering and management, and the health and education fields through our investments in the Jonas Salk Legacy Fund and the Energy Independence Strategy will provide new opportunities for Pennsylvania workers today and for generations to come,” Rendell said.