Butler County's jobless rate in August fell 0.3 percentage points to 5.6%, the combined result of a smaller labor force and more people being employed.

Despite a 200-person drop in the county's labor force — which includes those working or looking for work — between July and August, roughly 100 more people were employed in August than in the prior month in Butler County, causing the drop from 5.9% to 5.6%.

The county's July jobless rate was also revised upwards, from 5.7% to 5.9%, in part due to a 300-person addition to its labor force with only a 100-person addition to its number of employed workers, according to data released Tuesday by the state Department of Labor & Industry.

Within the seven-county Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area, only Armstrong County had a decrease — double that of Butler's, from 7.8% to 7.2% — and nearby Clarion County, which is outside the metropolitan area, had a 0.1-percentage point drop in its jobless rate.

The jobless rate of the metropolitan area as a whole remained steady at 6.2%, despite roughly 2,200 additional workers gaining employment due to a similar, 2,300-person rise in the labor force. Allegheny and Westmoreland counties had 0.1-percentage point increases; Beaver and Washington each saw 0.2-point rises; and Fayette County had a 0.6-point jump to 9% unemployment.

Overall, the economic recovery from COVID-19 in Butler County tends to follow the same as both Pennsylvania and the United States. In August, for instance, the statewide jobless rate fell 0.1 points, to 6.4%, while the U.S. rate dropped 0.2 points, to 5.2%.

Compared with last year, Butler's jobless rate has fallen 2.5 percentage points, smaller than both the state and national trends of 3.8 and 3.2 points, respectively.

Additionally, while the number of residents working or looking for work statewide has fallen for six consecutive months, Butler County has seen ebbs and flows in terms of its labor force, overall being 600 workers higher than it was in March, and 1,500 higher than it was in January.

Like the county's labor force, the number of unemployment insurance claims filed by county residents has risen and fallen, but ultimately has trended downwards. In July, the median number of initial and continued claims filed in a given week was 3,082; that fell to 1,742 in August, and thus far in September — the latest data available from the state labor department is from the week ending Sept. 18 — the median is 1,709.