We have some more positive news on the jobs front in the Raccoon River Valley area as two of our three local counties saw a drop in unemployment last month.

According to Iowa Workforce Development, Dallas County’s unemployment rate decreased by 0.2 percent since September for 3.2 percent in October.  Greene County saw a 0.4 percent drop last month to 3.6 percent, while Guthrie County saw no change from their 3.8 percent unemployment rate in both September and October.

In comparison to 2013, Dallas County’s currently doing better in terms of the number of people without a job by 0.3 percent.  Greene County’s rate is 0.2 percent better this year and Guthrie County’s is actually 0.2 percent higher now than it was in October of 2013.

The statewide unemployment rate decreased slightly to 4.5 in October.  Nationally, the U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 5.8 percent in October, the lowest it has been since July of 2008.