Crawford County recorded the second-highest unemployment rate in Iowa for the month of February with a jobless figure of 6.5% - more than three times the rate of neighboring Carroll County, according to the latest figures from Iowa Workforce Development.

Crawford County borders eight other counties, six of which have rates under 3% - Ida, 2.9%; Sac, 2.8%; Carroll, 2.1%; Audubon, 2.5%; Shelby, 2.4%; and Harrison, 2.8%.

The rates in two other bordering counties are 3.7% in Monona County, and 3.2% in Woodbury County.

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The only Iowa county with a higher unemployment rate for February than Crawford is Marshall, which posted a 9.8% rate, far and away the highest in the state.

Iowa’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased to 2.9% in February, down from 3% in January and equal to the rate one year ago.

Meanwhile, despite widespread job growth across multiple industries, Iowa’s labor force participation rate ticked down from 67.3% in January to 67.2% in February as a large concentration of young Iowans left work for education.

The U.S. unemployment rate increased to 3.9% in February.

The number of unemployed Iowans decreased to 50,200 in February from 51,100 in January, while the number of working Iowans fell to 1,650,700 in February.

The employed figure is 3,000 lower than January and 13,200 lower than one year ago.

“February was warmer than normal, and the impact of that showed up in Iowa’s economy,” said Beth Townsend, executive director of Iowa Workforce Development. “Iowa businesses added jobs in nearly every major industry last month, from construction and manufacturing to health care and accommodation and food services. At the same time, we also saw a slight decline in the overall workforce, with most who left saying they were doing so to attend classes. Opportunity abounds for anyone who wants to work. IowaWORKS currently has more than 60,000 open job postings, and IowaWORKS career advisors will be happy to help you get started.”

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