The county's jobless rate was higher than the state's 4.7 percent rate and the nation's 4.4 percent rate. A year ago, the county's unemployment rate was 5.4 percent.

Mercer County tied with Reading in 19th place among the state's 43 labor market areas for the best employment rate. The county tied for 34th place with Berks, Columbia and Fulton counties among the state's 67 counties.

The county's labor force expanded by 800 to 58,500 in May, fueled by returning seasonal workers and recent college graduates entering the work force, according to the state Department of Labor and Industry.

Goods-producing jobs rose 600 in May, with construction and mining along with manufacturing each gaining 300 jobs. But since May 2000, goods producers have trimmed payroll by 400 jobs due to a struggling national economy, foreign competition and higher energy costs. Service-producing jobs remained unchanged during the month.

Figures for May show the number of people working in the county grew 600 to 55,000. Resident employment is up 300 from last May.

Those unemployed in the county increased 200 to 3,000, but the number of unemployed is down 200 from May.

Average weekly earnings of production workers was $578 in May, up 83 cents due to higher average hourly earnings; average weekly hours were virtually unchanged from April. However, production workers earned an average $43 a week less than in May 2000 because they worked 3.9 fewer hours.

Cameron County had the highest jobless rate in the state at 10.8 percent; Centre County had the lowest at 2.5 percent.

Surrounding counties unemployment rates were: