Des Moines, Iowa — The US Department of Labor is conducting its annual revision in labor numbers to start the new year. Iowa Workforce Development director Beth Townsend says that resulted in the December unemployment number dropping one-tenth of a percent.
Townsend says the number of people looking for work also increased.
She says some areas saw good job growth in January.
Townsend says manufacturing added one thousand jobs, and non-durable goods, education and health services added 11 hundred jobs. She says there were some losses in seasonal industries.
Townsend says the revised numbers for February will be out in a couple of weeks and give more information on how the Iowa economy is doing.
Here in northwest Iowa, Osceola County had the lowest unemployment in the state in January, at 2.4 percent. That’s up just a touch from the previous month at 2.3 and down from last year at this time, when it was 2.6 percent.
In O’Brien County, unemployment was at 2.8 percent in January, which was up from the previous month’s number of 2.4, and down from the previous year’s 3.2 percent.
In Sioux County, it was 3.0 in January, up from 2.4 in December and down slightly from January 2025, when it was 3.1 percent.
In January, Lyon County had 3.1 percent unemployment, which was up from 2.4 percent in December, and down from 3.4 percent a year ago.
KIWA Staff Photo
