According to data released earlier this week by the Iowa Workforce Development (IWD), March’s unemployment figures remained relatively steady in the seven-county region. However, unemployment has increased greatly from March 2024 data. Carroll County’s unemployment held at 2.7 percent like last month’s numbers, which is an increase of .8 points from this time last year. Greene and Audubon County both dropped to 3.2 percent, .3 points and .1 points respectively. Greene County saw an increase of 1.0 points from March 2024 and 1.1 points increase over the year for Audubon. Calhoun County unemployment remained at 3.4 percent, but up 1.2 points from March 2024 numbers. Sac County saw .1 point decrease to 3.8 percent, up 1.4 points from this time last year. Guthrie County reported .4 points decrease to 4 percent unemployment in March, but increased from March ’24 at 1.4 points. Crawford County remained an outlier in the region with a 5.4 percent unemployment rate, .1 point decrease on the month and .9 points increase from March ’24. Across the region, unemployment rates average 3.7 percent. Iowa’s unemployment rate for March sat at 3.4 percent, below the national number of 4.2 percent. A link to the full IWD dataset is included below.
