The eight-county Western Iowa Advantage Region sees another decline in unemployment numbers, from 3.8 percent in July of 2016 to 2.9 percent in July of this year. The same trend is seen across the state with a nearly one full percentage point drop over the same time period. Ida, Adair, Carroll and Sac Counties continue to see pretty low unemployment numbers at 2.3, 2.4, 2.5 and 2.6 respectively. Audubon County recorded a 2.9 percent unemployment rate for July of 2017, while Guthrie, Greene and Crawford were at three or above, coming in at 3.0, 3.3 and 3.5 percent. Total employment in the region decreased from 40,900 last year to 39,306 in 2017.
