State releases local unemployment report

April’s unemployment rate in St. Joseph County was four-tenths of a percent lower than the previous month.

The monthly labor-market analysis by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget showed the county’s 3.3 percent April unemployment rate marked a decrease from March’s 3.7 percent.

St. Joseph County was below the state unemployment average, which was 4 percent in April.

The agency said seasonal job additions continued to be recorded in construction, and in leisure and hospitality. Also, fewer jobseekers were active in the labor market in April. As a result, unemployment rates declined throughout all of Southern Lower Michigan.

St. Joseph County featured the lowest unemployment rate in the eight-county region for the month. Kalamazoo County was next, at 3.4 percent.

Meanwhile, Van Buren County had the region’s highest, at 5 percent.

Cass County’s unemployment rate for the month was 3.9 percent.