HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s economy is struggling, if a Thursday report from the state on July’s hiring and unemployment rate is an indication.

The state Department of Labor and Industry said the unemployment rate shot up to 7.9 percent from 7.6 percent, the biggest monthly jump since 2009 and the second straight month the rate has increased.

The state’s jobless rate was at a three-year low of 7.4 percent in May, having dropped from the recessionary peak of 8.7 percent in 2010. The gap between the higher U.S. unemployment rate and the Pennsylvania rate is now as close as it’s been since 2008. The national jobless rate was 8.3 percent in July.

Meanwhile, hiring has stagnated since October, rising by just 5,000 nonfarm jobs since then to stay just above 5.7 million. The number of people working or looking for work has risen by about 100,000 since then.

Labor economist Mark Price, of the Harrisburg-based Keystone Research Center, said hiring is not keeping pace with the number of people entering the job market as employers eye lackluster consumer spending.

“I don’t know if we’re quite treading water, but it’s close,” Price said.

He said there is no reason to believe the nation has dipped into a recession again, but he also said he did not expect the economy to pick up soon.

“I think we’ll still keep seeing job growth in the coming months, it’ll be just weak growth,” he said.

Pennsylvania payrolls dropped below 5.6 million after the recession began in December 2007 and they remain below the peak of 5.8 million jobs in 2008.