For the second straight month, Butler County's jobless rate rose.

The county's unemployment figure climbed to 5.7% in July, reflecting a higher number of people joining or rejoining the workforce — but not necessarily finding employment.

Still, however, Butler's jobless rate remained below the state's average and the lowest in both the seven-county Pittsburgh metropolitan area and among neighboring counties.

Since May, during which the county's unemployment rate fell to its lowest point since February 2020, Butler County has seen a 0.7-percentage point climb in its jobless rate, caused in large part by a roughly 900-person increase in its labor force, but just a 200-person climb in residents who are employed.

During July, the county's labor force increased to 96,500 — a 400-person jump from June and the highest the figure has been since September 2020 — but the number of employed Butler residents remained steady at 91,000.

The labor force, as defined by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, includes all employed and unemployed persons. That means all people who either have a job or do not have a job, have actively looked for work in the prior four weeks and are available for work are included in the labor force. A person receiving unemployment benefits has no bearing on whether they are counted as unemployed.

Since the pandemic began, the size of the county's labor force has had a substantial bearing on its unemployment rate. From March through May, when the county's jobless rate fell for three consecutive months, its labor force shrunk by 600 people in total, while the number of employed residents climbed by just 500.

Only once this year has the county's jobless rate trended in the opposite direction of its labor force change — that is, a larger labor force and a lower unemployment rate, or vice versa — when in January the labor force fell 600 residents and its jobless rate increased by 0.6 percentage points.