WATERLOO: The Waterloo-Cedar Falls metro area recorded its lowest February unemployment rate in 16 years last month. Figures provided by Iowa Workforce Development show the February unemployment rate for the Waterloo-Cedar Falls metropolitan statistical area, which includes Black Hawk, Bremer and Grundy counties, was 4 percent. The last time the February jobless rate was at 4 percent or less was in 2001 when it was 3.6 percent.
That 4 percent jobless rate also is less than January’s 5.1 percent. The February 2016 jobless rate was 4.8 percent. The number of people counted as unemployed was 3,600 for February, down from both 4,500 in January and 4,400 in February 2016. The overall resident labor force was 89,600 in February, down from 91,200 a year ago but an increase from 89,100 in January. The labor force can fluctuate depending on the number of people actively looking for work, people or their jobs moving in and out of the area or people entering or leaving the work force due to completing or starting school, among other reasons. A total of 86,100 residents were working in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls MSA in February, up from 84,600 in January resident employment but down from 86,800 in February 2016, when the overall resident work force was larger. IWD officials said February employment in government jobs was up for the month and year, with a larger increase from January due to seasonal fluctuations. Manufacturing employment was down from a month ago and year ago.
The Waterloo-Cedar Falls jobless rate still the highest of the state’s MSAs, which range down to 2.1 percent in Ames. However, Scott County, the Iowa portion of the Quad Cities, recorded a 4.1 percent jobless rate. The state of Illinois is scheduled to release the Quad Cities February jobless rate Thursday. The state’s unemployment rate was 3.2 percent and the national unemployment rate was 4.7 percent. February unemployment rates for Northeast Iowa counties, with the February 2016 rates in parentheses, include: Benton, 3.8 (4.5); Black Hawk, 4.1 (5.0); Bremer, 3.4 (4.1); Buchanan, 4.0 (5.3); Butler, 4.7 (5.9); Chickasaw, 4.3 (5.7); Delaware, 3.7 (4.2); Fayette, 4.7 (5.7); Floyd, 3.9 (4.6); Franklin, 3.6 (4.8); Grundy, 3.6 (4.3); Hardin, 4.0 (5.1); Howard, 4.4 (5.1); Mitchell, 2.6 (3.6); Tama, 4.4 (5.5); and Winneshiek, 4.6 (5.4).
