Area (Ne-Ia) unemployment figures grow in June

http://www.omaha.com/article/20090718/MONEY/707189938/0/NEWS98

By Virgil Larson
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Unemployment rates rose again in June in Nebraska, Iowa and the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area.

The number of unemployed workers in Nebraska, 49,057, grew by more than 1,800 from May and nearly 17,000 from June 2008.

In Iowa, the June jobless figure of 104,100 was the highest since February 1986. It was 8,300 higher than in May and 35,700 from a year earlier.

The June to June increases exceeded 50 percent in both states.

While the figures released Friday show the number of jobs in Nebraska increasing in some categories, including construction, leisure and hospitality, transportation and financial services, year-over-year figures show fewer people working in almost every sector. An exception was the government jobs sector, which showed an overall drop from May to June, but higher employment year-over-year.

Iowa lost 1,800 manufacturing jobs in June and 27,700 since June 2008. Almost two-thirds of the jobs that have disappeared in the state since June 2008 were in manufacturing.

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