New data shows unemployment rates rose in most Pennsylvania counties in May, and Butler County wasn't spared.

The county's rate rose from 3.2 percent in April to 3.6 percent in May, according to new numbers released Tuesday by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry's Center for Workforce Information and Analysis. It wasn't alone: of the state's 67 counties, 54 showed rate increases in May, according to the center's analyst Lauren Riegel.

“It really wasn't restricted to the Pittsburgh area,” Riegel said. “It was pretty widespread across the state.”

Every county surrounding Butler saw increases, as did every one of the eight counties within what's called the Pittsburgh metropolitan statistical area.

When looking at data at a higher level than counties, Riegel explained, things get a little more confusing. Their office calculates the county rates and provides them to federal statisticians, who feed the state level numbers into their own, slightly different calculation system.

Riegel said the federal model “smooths” the data. That's why this month the Pittsburgh area unemployment rate and the state rate are both unchanged. Those rates are 3.8 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively.

Riegel said their in-house model showed most increases were not explainable by any specific event. The largest drops came in Union and Snyder counties and were directly tied to the closure of a large wood cabinet manufacturing facility known as Wood-Mode Inc.

The data center's figures use historical data to control for seasonal employment changes.

“The increase shouldn't have had any seasonal factor,” Riegel said. “Compared to typical movements in May, this is showing a rate increase.”

Riegel said one factor might have contributed slightly to the uptick: a fairly mild winter, perhaps, didn't push as many school calendars into June, giving their data set a slightly unusual early drop off in the number of education jobs. She said they've seen that occur in dramatic fashion in past years, but that this year it is likely a mild factor if a factor at all.

Industry specific employment numbers showed less of a shift. Construction jobs in the Pittsburgh area increased by 3,500. That jump is consistent with past years, but it does bring the total number to a record high of 64,500 jobs.