HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) -- Gettysburg's monthly unemployment rate rose by a tenth of a point compared to the prior month but -- at 2.2% -- remained the lowest in all of Pennsylvania, according to new data released Tuesday.
Other key Pennsylvania revelations in the new U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics metropolitan area unemployment figures:
Despite the tenth-of-a-point uptick for December (the most recent month available at the metro area level) compared to November, Gettysburg's rate is 0.5% lower than where it stood a year earlier.
Johnstown improved by more, compared to a year earlier -- a drop of 1.4%, from 5% in December 2022 -- than any other area in the state, although its 3.6% rate for December 2023 remains among the highest in Pennsylvania, whose statewide rate was 2.9% for the month.
East Stroudsburg's December 2023 rate of 3.8% was the highest in Pennsylvania. Metropolitan areas are defined by the U.S. Census bureau and in a few cases -- such as Philadelphia -- include parts of other states.
Here are December 2023 unemployment rates for all Pennsylvania metro areas and their change compared to a month earlier (November 2023) and a year earlier (December 2023):
| Area | Dec. 2023 rate | 1-month change | 1-year change |
| Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton | 3.3% | -0.1% | -0.4% |
| Altoona | 2.8% | +0.1% | -1.3% |
| Bloomsburg-Berwick | 3.1% | +0.2% | -0.9% |
| Chambersburg-Waynesboro | 2.4% | 0% | -0.8% |
| East Stroudsburg | 3.8% | -0.1% | -1.3% |
| Erie | 3.3% | +0.1% | -1.2% |
| Gettysburg | 2.2% | +0.1% | -0.5% |
| Harrisburg-Carlisle | 2.4% | -0.1% | -0.8% |
| Johnstown | 3.6% | +0.1% | -1.4% |
| Lancaster | 2.3% | 0% | -0.6% |
| Lebanon | 2.3% | 0% | -0.7% |
| Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington | 3.3% | 0% | -0.2% |
| Pittsburgh | 2.9% | 0% | -1.2% |
| Reading | 3% | -0.1% | -0.6% |
| Scranton - Wilkes-Barre - Hazleton | 3.5% | 0% | -1% |
| State College | 2.3% | +0.2% | -0.9% |
| Williamsport | 3.2% | +0.2% | -1.1% |
| York-Hanover | 2.5% | -0.1% | -0.7% |
| Pennsylvania | 2.9% | 0% | -0.9% |