Prairie stewards working Sunday at Waterworks; more

Prairie stewards working Sunday at Waterworks

Prairie stewards are seeking volunteers to work at the Waterworks Park prairie Sunday morning.

The prairie stewards are planning management work on the native prairie at the park from 9 a.m. to noon.

The primary task will be to follow up on the ongoing black locust tree removal project by cutting small-diameter black locust re-sprouts. The workers also will take out any incidental invasive weeds, such as wild parsnip, yellow sweet clover and poison hemlock.

Black locust is very thorny. Volunteers should wear long pants, long sleeves, boots, a hat and tough gloves. Volunteers should bring water, loppers, hand pruners and buckets if available.

Stewards and volunteers should meet at the main parking lot at Waterworks Park. The group will begin working at the main prairie area immediately to the left around the lake.

Call Laura McCormick at 919-5767 to locate the group or for more information.

Later, the group might move to another area along B Street, at the north end of the open area.

Volunteers can come for as little or as long as they like.

The work will continue in the future, so call for details.

Unemployment rate in Iowa holds steady at 5.1 percent

DES MOINES ? Iowa?s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate held steady at 5.1 percent in May. The state?s jobless rate compared favorably with the same month one year ago when the rate was 6.0 percent.

The U.S. unemployment rate rose slightly in May to 8.2 percent from 8.1 percent in April.

?The Iowa economy remains on track for modest growth in the coming months,? said Teresa Wahlert, director of Iowa Workforce Development. ?Continued improvement, particularly in housing, will strengthen job growth in a broad range of industries.?

The number of unemployed Iowans was reported at 85,200 in May, which was up slightly from the April level of 85,000. The current estimate compares with 99,100 for one year ago.

The total number of working Iowans declined slightly to 1,577,700 in May from 1,578,200 in April. However, the May total is 14,700 higher than the year ago figure of 1,563,000.

For the Seasonally Adjusted Nonfarm Employment, Iowa?s total nonfarm employment shed 3,300 jobs in May, lowering the monthly estimate to 1,492,400. This month?s decline was spread across several sectors and could be a symptom of the economic turmoil in Europe coupled with decreased spending from consumers. The job loss in May is the second for the current year, and the magnitudes of the declines in 2012 have been smaller than the gains.

Professional and business services decreased by 1,900 jobs in May, the most of any sector. The loss was heaviest in administrative and support services (-1,700), although professional, technical, and scientific services also lost jobs during the month.

Trade and transportation pared 1,800 jobs with losses occurring in retail, wholesale, and transportation. Smaller losses occurred in construction (-900), manufacturing (-400) and finance (-200).

Leisure and hospitality led all sectors in monthly job gains, up 1,200. The gain was evenly distributed between accommodations and food services and arts and entertainment. Elsewhere, job gains in health care (+700) fueled an increase of 300 in education and health services. Both information and government added 200 jobs.

Compared to May of last year, Iowa has added 13,400 jobs.

Manufacturing led all sectors in job growth, up 10,900 jobs. Construction followed with an annual gain of 6,100 jobs.

Smaller gains were posted for education and health services (+2,000), other services (+1,700), leisure and hospitality (+1,000) and finance (+500).

Conversely, trade and transportation lost the most jobs of any sector (-4,200). Other over-the-year losses were posted for government (-2,700), professional and business services (-1,900) and information (-200).