At a budget hearing this week in Harrisburg, the head of the Independent Fiscal Office weighed in on the jobs forecast for this year.
IFO Director Matthew Knittel says his office is projecting Pennsylvania will add around 80,000 jobs this year.
“I characterize the jobs outlook as not as good as last year where we picked up 115,000 jobs but ordinarily we would add around 40,000 to 50,000 each year. So we are a little above normal,” Knittel said.
However, Knittel adds that the state is down around 300,000 to 350,000 jobs overall.
He expects that it’ll take four to five years in order to get back to a pre-pandemic labor force.