There’s some bad news on the unemployment front in the Raccoon River Valley.  All three of our local counties saw an increase in the number of unemployed workers during the month of August.

According to Iowa Workforce Development Dallas, Greene and Guthrie Counties all saw a 0.2 percent increase in unemployment last month.  Dallas County’s jobless rate currently sits at 4.7 percent, Greene County comes in at 5.5 percent and Guthrie County has an unemployment rate of 5.3 percent.

The good news is that all three counties are below the recorded unemployment rate of this time last year.  Back in August of 2011, 4.9 percent of Dallas County residents were without a job, along with 5.9 percent of workers in Greene County and 5.6 percent of people in Guthrie County.

Iowa’s statewide unemployment rate also saw a 0.2 percent increase last month, now coming in at 5.5 percent.  The national unemployment rate stands at 8.1 percent.