Butler County's jobless rate in September increased to 5.7%, as the county lost its title as having the lowest rate in the Pittsburgh area for just the second time since November 2017.

In data released Tuesday by the state Department of Labor & Industry, Butler County's labor force increased by 100 workers, but 100 fewer workers were employed, a double-whammy on the county's jobless rate, which increased 0.1 percentage points in a month's time.

Just one other county in the seven-county Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area — which includes Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties — had an increase in its unemployment rate, as Armstrong County saw a 0.7-percentage point jump.

Butler's rise means it will once again have the second-lowest — as opposed to the lowest — jobless rate in the metropolitan area, as Allegheny County's 5.4% jobless rate unseats the county. A similar event occurred in July, with a 0.1-percentage point difference between Butler's 5.9% and Allegheny's 5.8% rates.

Prior to July, the last time Butler had a higher jobless rate than any other county in the statistical area was in November 2017, when Allegheny County's jobless rate of 4.7% fell below Butler's rate of 4.8%. In December 2019, the two counties had the same rate, of 4.3%.

Sectors struggle

As has been the case with recent unemployment figures, however, the percentage doesn't tell the full story.

In sum, the private sector in the metropolitan area lost 5,300 jobs, while public-sector jobs — those for federal, state and local governments, including educational services — increased by 8,700.

The biggest hit among private-sector jobs was in the service-providing industries, with leisure and hospitality — Butler County's fourth-largest industry by number of employees — having the largest drop. In the metro area as a whole, leisure and hospitality establishments lost 4,700 jobs between August and September, even as the industry employed 13,000 more people than it had one year prior.

Manufacturing too — the county's second-largest industry by employees — took a hit. Between August and September, the Pittsburgh area lost 500 jobs in that industry, wiping out one-third of the gains made in manufacturing since September 2020.

Another sector that saw its yearlong gains significantly erased was health care and social assistance, which is Butler County's largest sector. From August to September, that sector lost 1,300 jobs in the Pittsburgh area — which more than cleared away half its gains since September 2020. In the year between September 2020 and September 2021, there were 1,200 jobs added in that sector.