Personal factors include things like skill competencies, work ethic, attitude, etc.
Outside factors can include business downsizing and restructuring.
To answer that question, the entire economic picture for an area must be reviewed. For this discussion, let's look at the State of Connecticut. With a labor force approaching 1.7 million people, Connecticut has recovered quite nicely from the recession of the early nineties. Current employment is at 1,694,600, which is the highest level ever. The unemployment rate is 2.4 percent, which is near a record low.