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Pennsylvania’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dipped three-tenths of a percentage point from March to April to 7.5 percent. April’s rate was down 1.3 percentage points from April 2010, marking the largest over-the-year decline since June 1987.

Pennsylvania’s seasonally adjusted civilian labor force – the number of people working or looking for work – was down 8,000 in April to 6,356,000. Resident employment rose by 10,000 to 5,879,000 while the number of unemployed residents fell 18,000 to 477,000, its lowest level since February 2009. The labor force was 4,000 below its April 2010 level, according to a state Department of Labor and Industry release on Thursday.

It marks the fourth consecutive month that the state’s unemployment rate has declined. In April, the unemployment rate in Pennsylvania was 1.5 percentage points below the national rate of 9 percent. Since December, the unemployment rate has dropped by a full percentage point.

“These positive developments show that the Pennsylvania economy is moving in the right direction,” said U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Scranton. “We must stay focused on policies that help businesses expand and increase hiring so that the recovery continues and reaches all parts of the commonwealth.

The state rate since the recession began in December 2007 peaked at 8.8 percent in January 2010, while employers have added more than 120,000 jobs since February 2010.

Seven of the 11 supersectors added jobs in April. The largest increase was in the trade, transportation and utilities supersector, which was up to 1,093,600, an increase of 9,100 from March. The largest decrease was in construction jobs, which were down 3,000 to 219,900. Mining and logging jobs increased for the 23rd consecutive month, up 400 in April to 31,000, the highest level since 1990.

The head of a non-profit Harrisburg think tank that promotes economic issues issued a press release saying that while the news is good, he’s concerned about legislation making its way through the state Legislature.

Stephen Herzenberg said lawmakers would be ill advised to enact a state House proposal to reduce unemployment benefits by more than $632 million annually.

House Bill 916, which could be considered by the House next week, would lower average weekly benefits from $324 to $277, Herzenberg said. It would also deny benefits to some workers currently eligible and offset benefits by the full amount of any severance package from their employer.

“We established unemployment insurance to help pull our economy out of the Great Depression,” said Herzenberg. “The last thing we want to do in the wake of the Great Recession is to enact the single largest cut in unemployment benefits in Pennsylvania history.”