Employment figures in the Dubuque area in July remained essentially unchanged from the previous month, with low unemployment and labor-force numbers yet to reach pre-pandemic highs.

Iowa Workforce Development reported a statewide, seasonally-adjusted employment rate of 2.5%, down a tenth of a percent from June. Labor force participation remained at 67.8%.

In Dubuque County, the unemployment rate increased slightly from 2.6 to 2.8%, a change attributable to an estimated 100 workers who left their jobs, and the workforce, between June and July. The number of unemployed workers, meaning individuals who are not currently employed but are looking for work, remained steady at 1,500.

Alex Baum, director of initiatives at the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque, said the change was consistent with regular seasonal adjustments. (State-level data is adjusted to account for seasonal changes in the number of employed, like holiday staff and farm labor; county-level data is not.)

Baum said there’s usually a slight drop in the labor force between June and July, and this year’s change was consistent with that pattern.

“We saw less of a decline than normally, but I think it means things have stayed pretty much the same since June,” Baum said.

Nic Hockenberry, director of workforce programming at Greater Dubuque Development Corp., said the Dubuque area had seen a lower rate of decline in the labor force than past years, suggesting seasonal employers and similar institutions like schools were working harder to retain employees.

He also said the number of people receiving unemployment benefits had hit a historic low in the Dubuque metropolitan area, with only 251 people receiving benefits. The previous month’s 259 people on benefits had previously been the lowest number on unemployment benefits since at least January 2000.

But July’s employment figures also reflected the gap in the labor force that has persisted since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The labor force sat at 55,800 people in Dubuque in July, some 1,900 workers shy of the 57,700 in the labor force in July 2019; statewide, 1.71 million were in the labor force in July, down from 1.76 million three years previous when the labor force participation rate was 70.5%.

“That’s not great that we’re still down there, but we’re still in a new stable phase,” said Hockenberry, comparing current numbers with pandemic-driven fluctuations in 2020 and 2021.

In Wisconsin, unemployment in Grant, Lafayette, Crawford and Iowa counties either held steady or decreased slightly.

Grant County Economic Development Corp. Executive Director Ron Brisbois said he expects an abundance of jobs and the transition to the holiday season to keep unemployment low over the next few months.

“We’re going to continue to see a tight labor market, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it’ll stay that way,” Brisbois said.

Brisbois said he expected unemployment numbers to tick up slightly in the coming months as construction projects and other seasonal work go on hiatus, with unemployment peaking in February after the holiday season ends.

“There’s nothing there that’s shocking or concerning for me,” he said.