Washington County unemployment rate jumps to 4.9% as labor force contracts

Washington County's unemployment rate jumped by 0.6% to 4.9% in December, 2011. More importantly, the County's number of unemployed grew from about 500 to about 600. This happened in conjunction with the labor force shrinking slightly and the number of employed persons falling slightly. In December 2010, unemployment was 5.0%.

The labor force and employment numbers in metro Linn and Johnson Counties experienced similar trends. Several neighboring Counties, like Keokuk and Louisa, experienced increasing Labor Force and employment numbers, but also increasing numbers of unemployed as jobs did not keep up with the growth in the labor force.

Of the estimated 600 unemployed persons, 206 were drawing Unemployment Insurance benefits (up from 155 in November). Only about 1/3 of unemployed persons are receiving Unemployment benefits. For 15 of those receiving Unemployment benefits, their last payment occurred in December, while 62 received their first Unemployment benefit payment (down from 40 in November).

Unlike most counties in Eastern Iowa, the Statewide number of unemployed persons fell in December, and the unemployment rate trended downward as well, in contract to Eastern Iowa. Iowa followed the national trend of higher employment, and lower unemployment.

The State of Iowa's unemployment rate fell to 5.6% in December. Looking further, the number of unemployed persons in Iowa decreased by 1,200, while the number of employed persons increased by 3,500 as the State's labor force grew to 1,659k.  The national unemployment rate dropped slightly to 8.5% in December.

The State and County data is from the Labor Market and Economic Research Bureau of the Iowa Workforce Development.