Butler County's unemployment rate dipped in October — but that was largely due to a shrinking labor force.

According to data released Tuesday by the state Department of Labor & Industry, Butler County's jobless rate was 5.9% in October — a 0.8 percentage point decrease from its September figure — despite a lower number of employed workers in the county.

Overall, the county's seasonally adjusted labor force dropped about 1,100 workers during that month, and nearly 5,000 workers no longer are part of the county's labor force compared to October 2019.

This follows a larger trend across Pennsylvania, which saw its overall jobless rate fall to 7.3% in October due to a decrease of 75,000 in the state's civilian labor force.

Across the seven-county Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area — which includes Butler County — about 13,000 people no longer were included in the labor force in October compared to the preceding month, and roughly 43,000 left the workforce compared to last year.

The labor force, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, includes people who are either working or actively looking for work. Retirees, those with prohibitive disabilities and “discouraged” workers — that is, those who don't believe jobs are available — are excluded from the labor force, as are individuals who don't want a job or haven't looked for a job within the past 12 months.