Butler County's economy has been slow to reflect the global downturn that has rocked the corporate, government and average citizens' worlds.

Construction continues in the county's southwest corner, especially the business parks in and around Cranberry Township.

Westinghouse Electric, which picked the Cranberry Woods Business Park in 2007 for the construction of at least three buildings making up a new international headquarters, added to its footprint in the township by buying several other buildings to house its nearly 3,000-person workforce.

GMAC and East Resources both added more than 200 jobs in Cranberry, while additional retail and restaurants opened their doors throughout the area.

Cranberry officials, business owners and Simon Property Group of Indianapolis are all concerned about the fall announcement that the state Department of Transportation doesn't have enough money to widen Route 228 from Route 8 to Route 19. Simon has plans to build a large development of offices, retail and residential units on the north side of Route 228 near Interstate 79,

PennDOT's announcement may lead Simon to cancel its plans and scuttle future development along the fast growing corridor.

In other parts of the county, MEDRAD opened a new manufacturing facility in the Victory Road Business Park in Clinton Township. It will host a total of 500 jobs when the building is at capacity. AK Steel announced a $21 million upgrade to the Butler Works in Butler Township, and construction on Butler Crossing, a new shopping center in Butler Township, began.

In recent years, Butler County's unemployment rate has hovered around 4 percent with the rate sitting at 4.5 percent as of January. In October, it stood at 4.3 percent.

The state Department of Labor and Industry reported Friday that the state's unemployment rate rose by 0.3 percent to 6.1 percent in November.

Leslie Osche, executive director for the United Way of Butler County, said last week that while the United Way and its member agencies haven't seen a huge spike in the number of people looking for help with rent, utilities and food, "we're getting ready for it."