May was not a good month for employment in the Pittsburgh area.

Unemployment rose in six of the seven counties that make up the metropolitan statistical area, hiking the regional rate from 6.8 percent in April to 7 percent in May.

The number of jobs here, when adjusted for regular seasonal changes, fell by 4,600, according to the state Department of Labor and Industry in a report released this morning.

Only Fayette County, which suffers from the highest unemployment rate in the region, had fewer unemployed residents in May than in April, again adjusting for seasonal changes.

Fayette's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped from 9 percent in April to 8.8 percent in May. That rate is still the highest in the region, a full percentage point above Armstrong County, which saw unemployment rise from 7.7 percent in April to 7.8 percent in May.

The region's May unemployment rate of 7 percent was lower than the state's overall rate of 7.4 percent and that, in turn, was well below the national rate of 9.1 percent for the month.

Stepping back and looking at the good portions of the report, Mark Price, an economist with the Keystone Research Center, a policy research center in Harrisburg, said, "Year-over-year, you can make some lemonade of things and see the good news over the last 12 months."

Over the past year, 2,100 more people entered the labor force than left it; last month there were 14,500 more people working than there were in May 2010; and the unemployment rate for the entire seven-county region has fallen from 8.1 percent to 7 percent from the same month a year ago.

"Those are all good things," Mr. Price said.

He said over the year the monthly job gains have averaged 950 jobs a month. "That's including some bumps, and we hit a relatively large one in May."

Still, Mr. Price said, the region needs 13,100 more jobs just to reach the number that existed before the start of the recession and needs more than that to catch up with natural growth in the working age population.

If the area continues to gain 950 jobs a month, it will take about 14 months to return to pre-recession levels. That, Mr. Price said, is still better than a lot of other areas.

In a nonseasonally-adjusted survey of employers in various industries, the state found 5,300 more nonfarm jobs in the region than in April. Construction, which normally gains jobs in the spring, added 2,400 jobs from April to May, although that is down 1,200 jobs from May 2010. Manufacturing was up by 800 jobs in May from the previous month and a total of 2,500 jobs from May 2010.

In the private sector, only educational services was down both over the month (4,600 jobs) and the year (800 jobs).

Leisure and hospitality gained 4,600 jobs over the month with 2,500 of those at bars and restaurants.