Delaware’s unemployment rate for January fell to5 percent from a revised 5.2 percent In December.
It was also reported that a statistical model from the federal government led to revisions in job growth and unemployment, according to the Delaware Department of Labor.
George Sharply, chief economist for the state Labor Department said once-in-a-decade makeover of the model used to calculate the unemployment rate led the revisions that evened out the puzzling trends seen in 2014.
At times during 2014, the state was seeing a rising unemployment rate while the rate of job creation remained strong. The number of unemployed Delawareans in January stood at 22,800 compared to nearly 27,000.
Delaware continued its return to the pattern of its employment rate running below the national figure. The nation’s unemployment rate was 5.7 percent, up from 5.6 percent in December.
In January of 2014, the Delaware jobless rate was 6.1 percent, with the U.S. at 6.6 percent. At times in 2014, the state’s unemployment rate was at or above the national figure.
Nonfarm employment in the state dropped slightly in January from 442,500 from 442,800 in December. Since January of 2014, the state has gained 8,000 jobs, an increase of 1.9 percent. Nationally, the figure rose 2.3 percent.
Sharply said the jobless rate is likely to drop “into the 4s” in coming months.
John Stapleford, an economist and president of the Caesar Rodney Institute free market public interest group, said the February was “ is in keeping with the above average job growth…and initial (unemployment claims) are stable.”
Construction, manufacturing and retail jobs remain flat, Stapleford said. “The Amazon type warehouse jobs are still growing as Internet sales offset brick and mortar retail sales.” He went on to say that finance remains strong and restaurants are experiencing increased demand, with the rate of growth in health care jobs slowing down, a reflection of uncertainties over the Affordable Care Act.
The revisions, reflected in the February figures did indicate that job growth in Delaware was not as rapid as earlier reports had indicated. The state’s rate of job growth had been ranked, at times, as one of the strongest among the 50 states. Sharply said an upward revision in the national rate of job growth in the new model affected comparisons. Overall, the news remains positive, he emphasized.
One weak spot, according to Sharply, comes in the lack of growth in wages, a national phenomenon.
Announcements of pay hikes by major retailers and even health insurer Aetna could be a sign that wages will be on the rise.
Employment revisions that typically come this time of year delayed the release of the report, which typically comes out around the 20th of the month. The next unemployment report, for February, is only a couple of weeks away.
