Butler County's 5.9% jobless rate in December led the region and ranked 15th in Pennsylvania, even as the county's unemployment rate rose as more people joined the workforce, but did not find jobs. The seven-county Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area saw its jobless rate rise to 6.8% in December. Across Pennsylvania, however, the jobless rate decreased by 0.1 percentage point, to 6.7%, according to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry.

Butler County's jobless rate in December continued to be the lowest in the seven-county Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area, even as the county's rate went up.

Data released Tuesday by the state Department of Labor & Industry showed Butler's jobless rate at 5.9%, a 0.3 percentage point increase from its November rate, a trend that was reflected across Western Pennsylvania.

As a whole, the Pittsburgh metropolitan area's jobless rate jumped 0.1 percentage points; Beaver County, to the west, had an identical 0.1-point hike.

Butler County's unemployment numbers were somewhat of an aberration, however, as the increase isn't because fewer people were employed.

In fact, the number of people in Butler County's labor force for December increased by 200 to 95,700, while the same number of workers — 90,100 — were actively employed.

The labor force is comprised of those working and actively looking for work within the prior four weeks. Whether a worker is receiving unemployment insurance benefits has no bearing on whether they are considered unemployed.

In Western Pennsylvania, other counties that saw their jobless rate rise due to a larger number of individuals in the workforce include Beaver, Washington and Westmoreland counties. For the region, the labor force declined by 1,000 workers, and 300 more individuals were considered unemployed.

For year-end numbers, however, the state's and the county's jobless rates were signs of economic recovery following the pandemic, despite the December unemployment jump. Pennsylvania's December 2020 jobless rate was only 2.1 percentage points higher than the same from a year prior, while the national rate was 3.1 percentage points higher. The Pittsburgh region's 6.8% rate to end 2020 was 2 percentage points higher than the December 2019 unemployment number, while the percentage of Butler County's jobless workers rose just 1.5 points during that one-year period.