August unemployment rates in the area range from 9.2% in Linn county, down to 3.7% in Worth County.
Statewide, the August jobless rate is 5.1%.
Area counties with rates above the states’ average – besides Linn – include Sullivan at seven point four percent; Carroll at five point nine; Grundy is at five point seven percent; Caldwell five and a half; and Chariton county at five point two percent.
Area counties showing rates equal to, or less than, the states’ average include Mercer and DeKalb at five point one percent; Clinton five percent; Putnam is four point nine; Daviess, Harrison, and Gentry at four point seven; and Livingston County at four and a half percent.
Statistics for Grundy County only, indicate the August rate has gone up by two-tenths of a point from July (when it was five and a half percent).
The August rate of five point seven is more than one percentage point higher than August of last year (when it was four point six percent) Last month, Grundy county shows 279 unemployed out of a civilian labor force of 4,887. However, that number for a civilian labor force in Grundy County increased by more than 120 positions when comparing August of last year, to this year.
