Henry County unemployment shows slight increase during December

Henry County unemployment rose by four-tenths of a percentage point in December, according to figures released Tuesday by Iowa Workforce Development.

December?s unemployment in the county was measured at 4.2 percent, compared to 3.8 percent the previous month.

Gains and losses among southeast Iowa counties were fairly much a mixed bag with some counties posting slight gains and others marginal losses. Iowa?s unemployment fell in December to 4.1 from 4.3 percent in November.

Nationwide, unemployment was down by two-tenths of a percentage point from the previous month to 5.6 percent from November?s 5.8 percent.

Following are the latest jobless rates for neighboring counties, multi-county micropolitan areas and cities, according to Iowa Workforce (the November figure is listed first followed by the December rate).

Counties ? Appanoose, 5.8, 6.0; Davis, 4.8,5.2; Des Moines, 4.7, 4.5; Jefferson, 4.8, 4.6; Johnson, 2.5, 2.6; Keokuk, 3.4, 4.4; Lee, 5.8, 5.9; Louisa, 3.6, 4.1; Muscatine, 3.8, 3.9; Van Buren, 4.5, 4.5; Wapello, 5.1, 5.1; Washington, 2.9, 3.4.

Multi-county micropolitan areas ? Burlington, 4.6, 4.6; Ft. Madison-Keokuk, 5.7, 5.7; Muscatine, 3.7, 3.9.

Cities ? Burlington, 4.9, 4.4; Ottumwa, 5.3, 5.5.