Stagnant job gains combined with a growing labor force kept February unemployment in double digits on the North Olympic Peninsula.

Clallam County’s jobless rate went from a revised 10.8 percent in January to a preliminary 11.2 percent last month, while Jefferson County’s rate rose from 10.4 percent in January to 10.7 percent, the state Employment Security Department reported Tuesday.

Compared with a year ago, unemployment is down in both counties.

Clallam County’s unemployment was 11.8 percent in February 2011, and

Jefferson County’s was

11.2 percent.

In Clallam County, the private sector stayed flat, and the public sector lost 20 jobs.

Elizabeth Court, regional economist with Employment Security, said the unemployment rate rose because the labor force grew.

In Clallam County, the increase was from 29,560 to 29,610 over the month.

“One trend we saw across the state this month is that the number of people in the labor force is growing because of general confidence in the labor market,” Court said.

“People are coming back and starting to look for work.”

Although Jefferson County had no change in the number of jobs from January to February, the unemployment rate rose because of the addition of 30 job-seekers in a 12,440-member labor force.

This February, Clallam County had 3,320 unemployed job-seekers, and Jefferson County had 1,330 actively seeking jobs.

Jobless rates don’t count the people who have stopped looking for work.

Meanwhile, the state unemployment rate fell to 8.2 percent last month from 8.4 percent in January.

The state jobless rate was the lowest since January 2009, when it was 7.7 percent.

State unemployment has gradually decreased since last June, Court said.

“Overall, we have seen an increase of about 60,700 private-sector jobs,” she said.

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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.