Recently released data showed lower unemployment rates around the tri-state area last month compared to pandemic-inflated rates one year prior.

Dubuque County had an unemployment rate of 4.6% in June, according to Iowa Workforce Development. That is down from 7.8% in June 2020, during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dubuque County saw a higher unemployment rate than the State of Iowa, which experienced 4% unemployment in June, down from 7.1% a year earlier.

Other local counties also saw lower unemployment rates compared to last year. In Clayton County, the rate was 4.6% in June, down from 6.1% in 2020. Delaware County’s rate was 3.4%, down from 5% a year ago; Jackson County’s rate was 5%, down from 8.3%; and Jones County’s rate was 4.6%, down from 7.2%.

In Wisconsin, Lafayette County had an unemployment rate of 3% in June, down from 5.7% a year prior. Grant County’s rate was 3.6%, down from 7.3%; Crawford County’s rate was 4.7%, down from 8.6%; and Iowa County’s rate was 3.7%, down from 7.3% in 2020.

Statewide, Wisconsin’s unemployment rate was 4.5% in June, down from 8.6% last year, according to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.

Illinois had not released county-level unemployment data as of Thursday afternoon, but the statewide unemployment rate in June was 7.2%, down from 14.2% a year prior, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security.