There was no discernible pattern to changes in the unemployment rate for counties in the Western Iowa Advantage Region from November of 2019 to December. Audubon was the only county to remain steady at 1.9 percent, while Carroll and Guthrie Counties dropped from 1.7 to 1.6 percent and 2.2 to 1.8 percent respectively. Sac moved slightly upward, going from 1.6 percent in November to 1.9 percent in December, while Greene County did the same, hitting 2 percent in December from a 1.6 percent reporting the month prior. Crawford County saw the largest jump, moving from a 2.7 mark to 4.3 percent in December. For the year, the region’s average rate went up from 2.3 percent this same time period in 2018 to 2.7 percent in 2019. Iowa’s unemployment rate was also 2.7 percent in December of 2019, compared to 2.4 percent in 2018. Western Iowa Advantage tracks various economic indicators in area counties, including the unemployment trends.
