All three counties in the Raccoon Valley Radio listening area have seen an increase in unemployment in March.

According to Iowa Workforce Development, since February Dallas County saw the largest increase in unemployment with 0.6-percent to 2.6-percent in March. Guthrie County had a 0.5-percent unemployment increase from February to March to 4.4-percent. Greene County’s unemployment rate for March was 2.7-percent, a 0.4-percent increase. The statewide unemployment rate for March was 3.7-percent, up from 2.8-percent in February.

The large increases are mostly attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic. Iowa Workforce Development Director Beth Townsend said last month’s unemployment rate is just the beginning of the COVID-19 impact. Statewide, there were 63,500 unemployment claims filed for March, which is up from 49,300 in February.

The national unemployment rate for March was 4.4-percent.