january-unemployment

The unemployment rate in Washington, Henry, Iowa, Jefferson, Johnson, Keokuk, and Louisa Counties increased in January. According to Iowa Workforce Development, each of these seven counties had unemployment rates climb from December to January. Washington County’s unemployment rate increased from 2.3% to 3.2%, a difference of 300 people being unemployed in the last month of 2018 versus 400 in January. Marshall County had the highest unemployment rate in January at 6.8%. The state’s overall unemployment rate was 2.4%.

Unemployment benefits will be delayed one day this week. Iowa Workforce Director Beth Townsend issued a statement that weekly unemployment insurance payments that were supposed to be deposited on debit cards on Thursday March 14 will be delayed one day. The delay is due to a systems processing error.

County – December 2018 rate, January 2019 rate
Henry – 2.4, 3.0
Iowa – 2.3, 3.1
Jefferson – 2.5, 3.0
Johnson – 1.0, 2.1
Keokuk – 3.3, 4.2
Louisa – 2.6, 3.6
Washington – 2.3, 3.2