Finding an upside to the local employment picture may require the optimism of a Christmas wish list.
"We are in a funk, but we're not the only ones," said Teri Ooms, director of the Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development, a regional research and analysis group. "The textbook definition of the recession is over, but its effects are lasting."
The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metro area finished October with the state's highest unemployment rate for the 43rd consecutive month. The run dates to April 2010.
"Somehow, we are missing out on the recovery train so far," said Satyajit Ghosh, Ph.D., a University of Scranton economist. "We are not creating enough jobs, period. It is rather bleak."
The local unemployment rate in October, the latest available, receded to 9.2 percent from 9.7 in the year-earlier period. The number of jobless people in October totaled 25,800, down 1,900 from a year earlier.
But that apparent improvement is offset by a 3 percent drop in the labor force over the same period, from 287,800 to 279,400, state data show.
Even as the unemployment rate remains tops in the state and fewer people locally are working or seeking jobs, a more-discouraging pattern emerges in job losses.
The two work classifications experiencing the largest contraction over the last year were educational services and health care and social assistance.
Local education facilities shed 800 jobs over the last year, a 7.5 percent retreat. Health-care establishments reduced employment by 1,400 positions, a 3 percent decline.
Those two sectors had been mainstays during the economic recession and aftermath. From October 2008 to October 2012, jobs in the region's eduction field expanded by 20 percent to 10,600 employees. Health care work expanded by 1.4 percent over the same period, to 42,900 workers.
State education funding cuts totaling more than $700 million since 2011 show up in lower local school employment.
Meanwhile, changes in local hospital ownership result to retreat in the health-care employment.
Tennessee-based Community Health Systems, a publicly traded company, bought seven hospitals in the region in 2011 and 2012, including Wilkes-Barre General in Wilkes-Barre Hospital in Wilkes-Barre and Moses Taylor and the former Mercy Hospital in Scranton.
Community Medical Center in Scranton became part of the Danville-based Geisinger Health System in 2012.
"The disturbing trend is, we are looking at the erosion of the education and health care sectors," Dr. Ghosh said. "There has been a structural change in our health care sector. That change is not going to go away."
Ms. Ooms, though, said the region's population growth and expanding aging segment will boost demand for health care services.
"We are in a transitional period right now because the two major health systems are getting on their feet and getting organized," she said. "In two or three years, we will see that turn around. There will be growth."
Industries gaining the largest volume of jobs over the last year include leisure and hospitality, and transportation and warehousing.
The hospitality sector grew by 800 jobs, a 3.5 percent gain, and it employs 23,900 people locally.
One job driver in the field is Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, the Plains Twp. casino, hotel, horse racing and recreational complex. It has expanded by about 300 employees in the last year and has 2,000 workers.
The transportation and warehousing sector boosted employment by 2 percent over the year and 19,000 people work in the industry locally.
Some of that growth occurred at CenterPoint Commerce and Trade Park in Pittston and Jenkins townships. About 3,300 people work at CenterPoint, up from 2,700 in late 2011.
The area's loss of professional-level positions over the last year, with an expansion of mostly blue-collar and low-paying service work represents a discouraging tradeoff, Dr. Ghosh said.
"We are not looking at good-paying jobs being replaced by another set of good-paying jobs," he said. "There is no upside."
Contact the writer: jhaggerty@timesshamrock.com
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