There’s some positive job news here in the Raccoon River Valley as July unemployment figures have just been released.

According to Iowa Workforce Development, 4.5% of Dallas County residents were without a job in July, that’s down two-tenths of a percent from June and this time last year.

Greene County’s unemployment rate remained steady at 5.3% last month, but that’s still down half a percentage point from July of 2011.

And Guthrie County saw a 0.3% drop in unemployment, with July figures coming in at 5.1%, which is equal to this time last year.

The state unemployment rate increased two-tenths of a percent last month to 5.3 percent while the U.S. unemployment rate stands at 8.5%.