Quirky employment numbers for the region in November bode well even though Butler County's unemployment rate crept up.

Lauren Riegel, an analyst for the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry's Center for Workforce Information and Analysis, said the Pittsburgh metropolitan statistical area saw simultaneous increases to both its unemployment rate and employment rate in November. Riegel's center released November's figures this week.

“What the numbers seem to be indicating here is that people are entering the labor force,” Riegel said. “In this case, an increase in the unemployment rate may actually be a good thing.”

Both metrics rising at once suggests the people who previously weren't looking for a job now are, Riegel said. The center doesn't have a clear indicator of who exactly is entering the job market, but she said their staff sees it as a good indicator.

“Generally, that means people are confident they'll find a job, if they're getting up and looking,” Riegel said.

Butler County maintained its status as the lowest unemployment rate in the Pittsburgh area with a 4.4 percent rate, an increase of 0.1 percent over October.

The county didn't experience that bump in employment that indicates new job seekers, Riegel pointed out, but she still isn't worried by the county's numbers.

Butler County saw incremental increases in its unemployment rate in September, October and November.

“A lot of other counties have experienced a similar phenomenon,” Riegel said. “It's not anything we're particularly worried about at this point.”

In November of last year, Butler County's unemployment rate was 3.7 percent. That was a record low at the time.

The record was set again in February and April with a low rate of 3.2 percent.

“It was kind of a how low can we go situation,” Riegel said. “We were expecting that would be hard to maintain.”

As for job numbers, the Pittsburgh area hit a low back in March. Like Butler County's unemployment rates, job numbers for the region are on their third month of declines.

“We were kind of expecting that it would be hard to maintain,” Riegel said. “We have to wait and see what the year brings.”