Image courtesy of Iowa Workforce Development

Unemployment in the Raccoon Valley Radio listening area continues to trend downward.

According to Iowa Workforce Development, Greene County saw a large decrease in unemployment in August of 4.4-percent compared to July with 5.1-percent, a drop of 0.7-percent overall. Dallas County saw a 0.4-percent drop in unemployment from July of 4.7-percent to 4.3-percent in August. Guthrie County had a 0.2-percent downward slide in unemployment from July of 5.7-percent to August of 5.5-percent.

All three counties are reporting nearly half of the percentages that they were back in April, during the main economic shutdown from COVID-19. At that time, Guthrie County was at 10.4-percent, Greene County was 10.2-percent, and Dallas County was 7.6-percent unemployment.

Iowa’s unemployment rate for August was six-percent and the national unemployment rate was 8.4-percent.