Pa. jobless rate falls again, hiring flat in Jan.

Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate dropped in January to its lowest rate since 2008, although hiring remained flat.

The state Department of Labor and Industry said Friday that Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate fell four-tenths of a percentage point to 6.4 percent in January. The national rate was 6.7 percent in January.

Friday’s figures also included a downward revision to December’s unemployment rate, from 6.9 percent to 6.8 percent.

Pennsylvania’s labor force, or the number of people working or searching for work, shrank in December by 8,000, while the number of employed people rose by 15,000 and the number of unemployed fell by 23,000.

In a separate survey of employers, the department estimated that payrolls remained flat. With a slight downward revision from December’s figure, payrolls were slightly under 5.76 million jobs in January. That’s below 2006’s numbers.