Unemployment Rises Again In Crawford County

For the second straight month, unemployment was up in Crawford County, even as initial claims fell and the state’s rate dropped.

The county’s rate in June stood at 5%, up from 4.5% in May and 4.2% in April.

However, initial claims fell from 116 in May to just 59 in June, the lowest since February 2020 when only 65 were made.

The county’s unemployment has bounced up and down since late 2019 when less than 3% of the county was unemployed.

The rate was 2.9% in October of that year, but by February 2020, was up to 4.7%.

COVID-19 and the ensuing pandemic sent those numbers skyrocketing as high as 9.5% in April 2020.

By October, unemployment had settled in at 3.8%.

The rate yo-yo’d beginning in December, when it rose to 6% from 4.1%.

It fell to 5.8% in January, then rose to 6.2% in February.

A big drop was recorded in March — down to 5.3%.

Another one-point drop occurred in April as it tumbled to 4.2%.

State

State unemployment was 4.3% in June and 19,102 initial claims were filed.

The state ended the enhanced UI benefits June 12.

Neighboring Counties

Dent County recorded an increase from 4.3% to 5%.

Initial claims fell from 49 to 29.

Franklin County unemployment rose from 3.9% to 4.5%.

Initial claims were down from 416 to 309.

Gasconade County unemployment went from 3.5% to 3.9%.

Initial claims dropped from 50 to 31.

Iron County unemployment rose from 5.5% to 6.6%.

Initial claims decreased from 46 to 29.

Phelps County unemployment went up from 3.8% to 4.5%.

Initial claims dropped by nearly 100 — from 180 to 87.

Washington County unemployment increased from 4.9% to 5.7% and initial claims fell from 99 to 84.