Des Moines, Iowa — Iowa’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained at 2.8 percent in February. The state’s jobless rate was 2.7 percent one year ago. The U.S. unemployment rate decreased slightly to 3.5 percent in February.
Iowa Workforce Development Director Beth Townsend says that because of the way the Bureau of Labor Statistics collects data, they do not expect the COVID-19 numbers to have an impact on the unemployment rate until April. The April unemployment rate will be released in mid-May. She says that the Bureau of Labor Statistics may change this but it is where we are now. Therefore, she says the February and March rates are not indicative of where we are now as a result of the recent outbreak. Townsend says they continue to encourage employers to utilize as many employees as possible and use alternative methods to allow them to work during this challenging time.
The county-by-county statistics are always a month behind and are not directly comparable to the statewide numbers because the statewide numbers are seasonally-adjusted. That is, they take into account that in the winter, there are fewer jobs in the ag, construction, tourism, and other industries. The county-by-county numbers are raw numbers that don’t take that into account.
The trend of Lyon and Sioux counties always having the lowest unemployment in our area and even in the state seems to be changing. While northwest Iowa continues to have some of the lowest unemployment figures in the state, we’re not always THE lowest.
Osceola county actually had the lowest unemployment in northwest Iowa in January — the latest month for which figures are available — at 2.6 percent. Lyon was next with 2.7, then O’Brien with 2.8, and the highest unemployment in the four-county area was actually Sioux County this time, with 2.9 percent.
Since the numbers are not seasonally adjusted, it would stand to reason that unemployment would be higher in January than in December, and the numbers bear that out. O’Brien County had the smallest increase over December numbers, up only five-tenths of a percent. Next was Lyon County, up six tenths. Osceola and Sioux counties were tied, both rising eight-tenths of a percent.
