Des Moines, Iowa — Iowa’s unemployment rate dropped slightly in December after four months of slight increases.
Iowa Workforce Development director, Beth Townsend, says the rate dropped one-tenth of a point to three-point-two percent.
Construction is one industry that saw more work for employees with the better weather.
The number of people in the workforce did drop by 85 hundred in December.
Townsend says there are still some 60 thousand jobs open in the state, and says industries like health care have a lot to offer.
Townsend says Workforce Development can help you assess your skills and help you apply for a job, so you should contact them to take advantage of that help.
Locally, unemployment in our part of northwest Iowa remains among the lowest in the state, according to the latest available figures. County-by-county unemployment numbers are a little behind the statewide numbers, and the latest available numbers are for November, and are not seasonally adjusted.
At that time, Sioux County had the lowest unemployment in the state at 1.7 percent. Osceola County had the second-lowest at 1.9 percent. Lyon was third with 2.0 percent. Three counties elsewhere in the state had 2.1 percent unemployment in November, and O’Brien County was tied with five other counties for fourth-lowest at 2.2 percent.
