Des Moines, Iowa — It’s crowded at the top this time. The latest unemployment figures have been released and three of our four northwest Iowa counties are in the top five for lowest unemployment rates.
The latest county figures to be released are from January of this year. The lowest seasonally-unadjusted county unemployment rate in the state was Story county, with 2.3 percent. Tied for second-lowest were Lyon and Mitchell counties at 2.6%. Plymouth, Dallas, and Carroll were tied for third at 2.7%. Osceola was tied for fourth at 2.8% with Greene, Johnson, and Taylor. Sioux had 3.0% and was tied for fifth place with Boone and Buena Vista counties. O’Brien was not in the top five but was in the top ten. O’Brien County had 3.4% unemployment and was tied with Decatur and Shelby counties for eighth place.
Lyon County unemployment is up four-tenths of a percent from the previous month. Osceola is down three-tenths of a percent. Sioux County unemployment is up six-tenths of a percent, and O’Brien County unemployment is up three-tenths of a percent. Iowa Department of Labor officials remind us that these figures are not adjusted for seasonal work so those who work in farming, construction, and outdoor entertainment industries, and others for whom there is less work in the winter could be included in the “unemployed” category even though they may be back to work in the spring and summer.
Meanwhile statewide, more Iowans went off the unemployment rolls in February as the rate dropped for the fifth straight month to three-point-two percent. Iowa Workforce Development spokesman, Cory Kelly, says the state is pushing toward full employment — but that number is not exactly known.
Full employment means most of the people who want a job have one and those who don’t are in transition between jobs. Kelly says they don’t know if the unemployment rate has hit bottom yet.
The rate was three-point-eight percent last February. He says the private sector led the move that saw some three-thousand jobs created in February.
The construction industry added 16-hundred jobs last month and Kelly says the weather continues to be a big positive for the industry.
He says the leisure and hospitality sector was one area that lost jobs.
The number of unemployed Iowans decreased to 53-thousand-600 in February from 56-thousand-900 in January. The total number of working Iowans increased to one-million-639-thousand-700 in February. This figure was 27-hundred higher than January and 19-hundred higher than one year ago.
 |
Visit www.iowalmi.gov for more information about current and historical data, labor force data, nonfarm employment, hours and earnings, and jobless benefits by county.
