Warren County’s employment rate took a step up in April.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, the county’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in April was 6.4 percent. That’s down from 7 percent in March and 7.4 percent in February.

It’s last than half the unemployment from April 2020 when the rate was 13.2 percent. According to L&I, the county gained 1,400 jobs in the service sector from April 2020.

The county rate is the lowest in the region and lower than the state average.

Meadville had a 6.6 percent rate, then Bradford at 6.9 percent, Oil City at 7.1 percent, Erie at 7.7 percent, and Forest County with 8.3 percent.

The state-wide unemployment rate in April was 7.4 percent.

The national average was 6.1 percent.

According to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics at the U.S. Department of Labor, seasonal adjustment “is a statistical technique that attempts to measure and remove the influences of predictable seasonal patterns to reveal how employment and unemployment changes from month-to-month.”

“These seasonal adjustments make it easier to observe the cyclical, underlying trend and other nonseasonal movements in the series,” making it possible to make month-to-month comparisons.