Unemployment rates tick up in Grant, other SW Wisconsin counties, fall in Jo Daviess County

Local unemployment rates climbed in February in southwest Wisconsin counties, while the rate fell in Jo Daviess County, Ill.

Unemployment data for counties in both states recently was released.

In the largest of those local counties, Grant County, Wis., the unemployment rate stood at 4% in February. That was the 10th-lowest rate in the state.

It also was slightly above the county’s 3.9% rate in February 2020 and the 3.6% rate in January of this year.

Elsewhere in southwest Wisconsin, Crawford County’s rate in February was 6.5%, compared to 5.9% in January and 6.3% in February 2020.

Iowa County’s February unemployment rate was 5%, up from 4.4% in January and from 3.8% in February of last year.

In Lafayette County, the February rate stood at 3.9%, compared to 3.3% in January and 3.2% in February 2020. Lafayette County’s rate in February of this year was the second-lowest in the state.

In Jo Daviess County, Ill., the unemployment rate was 6.1% in February, a decrease from January, when it was 6.8%. The county’s rate was 4.5% in February 2020.

Illinois reported a statewide unemployment rate of 7.4% in February, while Wisconsin’s stood at 3.8%.