WASHINGTON: The April unemployment rate in St. Joseph County decreased by four-tenths of a percent compared to a month earlier. The monthly labor-market analysis by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget showed St. Joseph County’s 3.4 percent April unemployment rate was less than March’s 3.8 percent. April’s unemployment rate was eight-tenths of a percent less than the same month one year earlier, when the figure was 4.2 percent.
St. Joseph County remained below the state unemployment average, which was 4.3 percent in April. The agency said more people securing seasonal employment in construction, leisure and hospitality, and the professional and business sectors, contributed to the unemployment decrease. At 3.3 percent, Kalamazoo County had the region’s lowest unemployment rate in April, while Van Buren County had the highest, at 4.9 percent.
