Experts said an increase in unemployment during December in the state of Wisconsin is not surprising and, even with a recovering economy, is to be expected.

The report, released Wednesday by the Department of Workforce Development, showed a 0.4 percent increase in unemployment from November 2009 and a 2.5 percent increase from December 2008, bringing the December unemployment rate to 8.3 percent.

The unemployment rate in Dane County increased to 5.4 percent, up 0.2 percent from November.

Eric Grosso, senior economist with DWD, said such unemployment rates are typical of a recovering economy.

“Some numbers come out and they say we’re in an expansion period, but it may not feel like it for awhile in terms of the job market,” Grosso said.

Menzie Chinn, professor of economics and public affairs at the University of Wisconsin, said there are two reasons why unemployment rates lag behind economic expansion during a recovery period.

The first is the number of people in the labor force grows over time, so even when the economy is doing well, jobs still need to be created to keep the unemployment rate constant.

Chinn said in the case of the United States’ economy, not only have there not been any more jobs created, but jobs are now being lost, which adds more people to the jobless pool.

The second reason comes from people who give up the job search.

“Once they [give up] they’re not counted in the labor force,” Chinn said. “But when the economy starts getting better, they’re going to start looking for jobs and then they’ll be counted once again … so that tends to make the pool of unemployed people … get bigger.”

Because more people are jumping into the unemployment pool, Chinn said U.S. officials predict a decrease in unemployment rates as early as the end of this year.

“The market will improve,” Chinn said. “But it’s going to improve slowly.”

In Wisconsin, Gov. Jim Doyle’s goal is to create more jobs, said Dick Jones, agency liaison for DWD.

According to Jones, the DWD recently received $6 million for the U.S. Department of Labor, which will be used to “green up” Wisconsin’s Model Adult Apprenticeship Program as well as create more jobs.

Jones added DWD is also involved in the Clean Energy Jobs Act, which will provide workers with skills for “jobs of the future,” such as advanced manufacturing.

Grosso said the unemployment statistics came from the U.S. Department of Labor and were obtained through two surveys: a household survey and what is known as a place of work survey.

The household survey asks how many people in a household are of working age — in this case 16 years old — if they are working or looking for work, Grosso said.

The respondents for the place of work survey are not individuals, but rather businesses.

“[They] ask how many jobs you have available regardless of how many hours — part time or full time — they just count a job as a job,” Grosso said.