Unemployment numbers for the seven-county Pittsburgh region ticked upward again last month, but the jobs picture still compares favorably to both statewide and national figures.

The 5.8 percent local unemployment rate is the highest since June 2004 and represents a three-tenths of a percentage point increase from November, according to a Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry report released today. In the past year, the unemployment rate has gone up 1.8 percent, the biggest increase in 25 years.

Statewide unemployment rose from 5.8 percent in October to 6.1 percent in November, while nationally the rate was 6.7 percent.

The Pittsburgh area had the sixth-lowest unemployment rate out of the state's 14 Metropolitan Statistical Areas.

Robert Dye, vice president and senior economist for PNC Financial Services Group, said he expects Pittsburgh-area unemployment to remain about a percentage point below the national average, which he thinks may bottom out at about 8.5 percent in late 2009.

"Many, many businesses are in survival mode right now, looking for ways to trim expenses. They're certainly not hiring anywhere they don't have a great deal of confidence they have the demand ahead of them," said Mr. Dye.

"It is going to take several more months for this to turn around. "

Local combined unemployment for Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties has been below state and national levels for eight consecutive months.

"We [in the Pittsburgh region] are doing well, but we are not completely insulated from this very deep and lengthy U.S. and global economic recession," said Mr. Dye. "Unemployment is going to continue to go up."

Fayette County has been hit hardest in southwestern Pennsylvania with a 7.3 percent unemployment rate, while Butler County fared best at 5.3 percent.

Regionally, 98,000 factory jobs were lost, the biggest monthly decline since 2001; nonfarm jobs decreased by 4,600, the largest drop since the state began tracking the data in 1990; and there were 1,900 fewer construction jobs, although officials attribute that to an expected seasonal drop.

Other numbers:

• Jobs in goods-producing dropped 2,900 in November;

• Service jobs fell 1,700, the first November decrease since officials began tracking in 1990. The biggest monthly drop was in leisure and hospitality, which lost 5,000 jobs;

• Trade, transportation and utilities jobs rose 2,100, but it marked the smallest November growth since 1993. Clothing and clothing accessory stores were hit hardest.

Mr. Dye does find some room for tempered optimism.

"Pittsburgh has some very strong industries," he said, singling out the nuclear and high-tech industries. "Just about the only private sector industry that is consistently expanding jobs is health care."

But even health care has taken hits, with hundreds of hospital jobs eliminated locally since July. "I think it is a 'recession-resistant' industry," said Mr. Dye, "but in the current environment there are very few 'recession-proof' industries."