After unemployment in Warren County jumped up to start the year, the rate was on the way back down in February.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry (L&I), the county’s unemployment rate in February was 5.0 percent.

That compares favorably to the 5.7 percent in January, but is still higher than December’s 4.5 percent.

The rate is far below the 7.4 percent reported in February 2021.

Since then, the county has fewer unemployed people, but also significantly fewer employed people.

According to the data released Tuesday, the county’s seasonally-adjusted labor force a year ago was 18,500. In February, that number was 17,200. The number of people in the labor force and the number of people employed in the county has been dropping. In December, there were 17,700 workers — 16,900 with jobs. Those fell to 17,400 workers and 16,400 employed in January. There were 16,300 county residents employed in February.

The losses from January to February were in the areas of trade, transportation, and utilities, and education and health services, according to L&I.

The county’s rate is in line with others in the region.

Meadville had the lowest rate (4.8 percent). Oil City was at 5.0 percent, Bradford at 5.3 percent, Forest County at 5.5 percent, and Erie 5.7 percent.

The county had less unemployment than the statewide average, which was 5.1 percent in February.

The national average was 3.8 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.