Butler County's jobless rate rose 0.7 percentage points to 6.6% in January, marking a sharp change from several consecutive months of jobs regained in the county following state-mandated shutdowns last spring. The county's January lull coincided with a general trend across both Western Pennsylvania and the state as a whole, with the Pittsburgh metropolitan area seeing a 0.8-point jump in unemployment and the state's less dramatic rise from 7.1% to 7.3%.

For the second consecutive month, Butler County's jobless rate rose in January.

The county's unemployment rate increased 0.7 percentage points between December and January. Butler County was not alone in the state, which itself saw a 0.2-point climb in the jobless rate, nor in the seven-county Pittsburgh metropolitan area, where the jobless rate increased from 6.8% to 7.6%.

Butler's jobless data, which was released Thursday by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry, reflect the county's economic state during the “key week,” which in January was the week ending Jan. 16.

The January climb in jobless numbers was the second consecutive month in which Butler County saw a larger number of people out of work. Between November and December, the jobless rate climbed 0.3 percentage points, from 5.6% to 5.9%. It also marks the highest jobless rate in the county since September, when the jobless rate was at 6.7%.

While December's jobless rise could be attributed to more people entering the workforce — the same 90,100 workers were employed in both November and December — January's data show the county's workforce decreased by 300 workers. In January, the data shows, 600 more workers were unemployed than in December, and 900 previously employed workers no longer counted in that column.

Still, Butler County maintained the lowest jobless rate in the seven-county Pittsburgh metropolitan area, and its rate was lower than the Clarion, Lawrence, Mercer and Venango county micropolitan areas.

Butler's jobless rate also grew less than other Western Pennsylvania counties' figures. For instance, Allegheny County's jobless rate jumped 0.9 percentage points, Armstrong and Beaver counties' figures increased by 1.1 percentage points each, Clarion and Mercer counties' figures climbed 0.8 points and Lawrence County's jobless rate increased by 1.2 points.

Claims for unemployment compensation, another indicator of how many county residents are out of work, indicate the job recovery reversal during November through January may not be continued in February data.Between Nov. 14 and Jan. 16, the period reflected in the December and January jobless data, 5,513 workers filed initial claims for unemployment insurance, an average of 551 per week. An average of 366 workers filed initial claims between Jan. 17 and March 6, according to the most recent data available from the state labor department.Yet these indicators paint a mixed picture of recent jobless data.An average of 4,342 workers per week filed continued unemployment insurance claims during that 10-week period. That has grown to an average of 4,474 workers who have filed such claims in the eight weeks since.Further, four of those weeks had more initial jobless claims than in the prior week, but four had fewer claims. More workers filed continued claims than in the prior week during three weeks, but fewer workers filed such claims in five weeks.