(TNS) Increasingly optimistic about the economy, Pennsylvanians are feeling better about the direction of the state as well, according to a new Morning Call/Muhlenberg College poll.

For the first time since the Great Recession, a majority of Pennsylvanians 51 percent see the economy as either "excellent" or "good."Across the state, the labor market has expanded, helping to drive down the unemployment rate.At the same time, the stock market has posted gains, making people feel richer, and a big drop in the price of gasoline has left more money for discretionary spending."There's clearly a change in perception on one of the cornerstone aspects of quality of life, and that's the economy," said Chris Borick, director of Muhlenberg College's Institute of Public Opinion.Borick described this as "big news," because people's feelings about pocketbook issues tend to shape their impressions of everything else.The latest poll is based on telephone interviews with 403 adults statewide. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 6 percentage points and was conducted Jan. 28 to Feb 11.Asked if they'd say life in Pennsylvania is getting better or worse, 33 percent of respondents said "better," an increase of 10 percentage points from 2013, which was the last time the Morning Call/Muhlenberg College poll surveyed state residents about such matters.The percentage of respondents who said life is getting worse was 35 percent, a decrease of 11 percent from two years ago. In 12 years of polling, the number who say "better" has never been higher, and the differential between those who say "better" and those who say "worse" has never been so small."This is the best ratio we've ever seen," Borick said.Poll respondent Joe Fatzinger of Kempton, Berks County, who owns a construction company that employs about 20 union workers, said his outlook on the economy and feelings about the state have been buoyed by an uptick in publicly funded building projects, particularly those involving area school districts."It's going to rival what things looked like back in the mid-2000s," he said.Asked to rate Pennsylvania as a place to live, more than four-fifths of poll respondents said either "excellent" or "good." A mere 13 percent said either "not so good" or "poor."On a number specific issues health care services, transportation, job satisfaction and family income Pennsylvanians' opinions have changed little in recent years.The one discordant note concerned education. The percentage of respondents who rated the state's public schools as either "excellent" or "good" declined 11 points, to 56 percent.Early in his term, Gov. Tom Corbett slashed funding for education, prompting school districts to lay off thousands of teachers. Though some of that funding was later restored, many districts continue to struggle with tight budgets.Pennsylvanians' perceptions about schools help to explain why Corbett lost the November election, according to Borick. Though voters may have been feeling better about the direction of the state in general, he said, "on a key issue that defined him, satisfaction was not nearly as high as it had been in the past."Another poll respondent, Michael Tabron of Chester, Delaware County, said he's concerned about the schools in nearby Philadelphia. "From watching the news, I know they have problems," he said.The situation is different in Chester, he continued, thanks to the introduction of a half-dozen charter schools. "Students have choices now," he said.Though people may be feeling better about the state of the economy, a sizable minority still has reservations 36 percent of respondents described it as "not so good" and 13 percent said it was "poor."And yet, more than two-thirds of respondents said they were "not concerned at all" or "not too concerned" about becoming unemployed in the next year.For Tabron, who at 58 retired last year from Mars Drinks, where he worked for more than three decades, job security is no longer a concern. But he likes what he sees happening lately in his own long-suffering community the addition of a Bottom Dollar supermarket and a Wells Fargo branch, and hiring at the Kimberly-Clark paper factory."Those are the things I look at," he said. "The area is growing and getting better, and so is the quality of life."Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC