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May unemployment figures released by the Iowa Workforce Development show a decrease in claims for a third straight month.  The current rate in the County is four percent, dropping a third of a percent from April.  Washington County has more than 12,000 people in the workforce.  Across all of southeast Iowa, unemployment rates dropped an average of one and a half percent.

Louisa County saw a slight increase while the largest decrease was in Henry County dropping almost two-thirds of a percent.  By comparison, the lowest unemployment rate in Iowa is northwest Iowa’s Lyon County with two point four percent and Hamilton County in central Iowa has the highest unemployment rate of seven point four percent.

Still three percentage points lower than national figures, Iowa’s unemployment remains at five point one percent.