Unemployment among Americans with disabilities inched up with the start of the new year, the U.S. Department of Labor said Friday.

The jobless rate climbed to 11.9 percent in January for people with disabilities, up from 11.2 percent the month prior.

Figures released from the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that more people with disabilities were job hunting in the first month of the year, but fewer were actually employed.

At the same time, the economy added 257,000 jobs overall as the unemployment rate for the general population rose slightly to 5.7 percent.

Federal officials began tracking employment among people with disabilities in October 2008. There is not yet enough data compiled to establish seasonal trends among this population, so statistics for this group are not seasonally adjusted.

Data on people with disabilities covers those over the age of 16 who do not live in institutions. The first employment report specific to this population was made available in February 2009. Now, reports are released monthly.

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