100 less Jasper County workers were unemployed last month according to Iowa Workforce Development. That dropped the County’s unemployment rate by half a percent. The local numbers released yesterday(Monday) shows a 3.3-percent jobless rate in the County for March, compared to 3.8-percent in February. The County had 700 unemployed workers in February, and 600 last month. The County’s labor force did decrease by 30 last month….going from 18-thousand 290 workers in February to 18-thousand 260 for March. Iowa Workforce Development Executive Director Beth Townsend says statewide, the workforce participation rate did drop slightly as well.
Townsend also notes the Statewide unemployment rate fell below 3-percent last month.
According to Townsend, there were 4-thousand new jobs in March to go along with 11-thousand jobs added in February. She says they are starting to see increases in jobs in the typical areas that add employees as summer approaches.
Six counties neighboring Jasper had lower unemployment last month. Story County was at 2-percent; Marion County 2.3-percent, Mahaska 2.5; Poweshiek and Warren were both at 2.7-percent, and Polk was 2.9. Tama was higher 4.9, and Marshall County was at 8.1-percent. Iowa’s economy continues to be resilient in the eyes of Townsend.
The nationwide jobless rate went down slightly in March, to 3.8-percent.