Pennsylvania was third in the nation for job growth in 2025, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

While nearly one-third of states saw a year of losses in 2025, from December 2024 to December 2025, Pennsylvania gained more than 76,000 jobs — a 1.2 percent increase year-over-year, compared to a 0.4 percent increase nationally.

That’s great news if you live near one of the state’s urban areas, but doesn’t mean much for Warren County. Within the year’s growth, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh ranked as two of the top U.S. metro areas(opens in a new tab) for new jobs — creating 36,400 and 13,000 jobs, respectively — while outpacing national trends in lagging construction and manufacturing. That means 65% of those new jobs came in just two areas, leaving a little more than 26,600 jobs new jobs for the rest of the state. And let’s face it, many of those new jobs went to other urban areas.

Shapiro touts $40.4 billion in private-sector investments over the past three years that have created more than 22,400 jobs across the commonwealth. How many of those have come to areas like Warren, Forest or Elk counties?

We can’t argue with the governor’s statistics. Pennsylvania is growing.

But that growth is far from even across the state, and residents of many rural counties still feel as if they are being left behind to fend for themselves.

Shapiro is in the midst of a re-election campaign. It’s great to be able to say the state’s economy is growing, but don’t be fooled. Rural areas aren’t seeing the benefits of Shapiro’s much-touted economic gains. The question for the rest of this campaign for areas like ours is whether either candidate can deliver for Warren County like Shapiro has for the big cities.