VIA: Philadelphia Business Journal
Private sector jobs were added in 35 major markets between August 2009 and 2010, but the Philadelphia metropolitan area was not among them.
In fact, the Philadelphia MSA has been on a three-year losing streak, shedding a total of 131,600 jobs since August 2007, according to recently released figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
As of August 2010, the Philadelphia area — which includes slices of New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland for the purposes of the BLS statistics — had 2,334,200 jobs after a three-year slide from 2,465,800 jobs in August 2007. The metro area includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties in Pennsylvania; Salem, Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester counties in New Jersey; New Castle County, Del.; and Cecil County, Md.
The city of Philadelphia has lost jobs in eight of the past 12 months and as of August had an unemployment rate of 11.7 percent — the highest in the five-county region.
