St Joseph County unemployment rate down

The February unemployment rate in St. Joseph County decreased by seven-tenths of a percent compared to a month earlier.
The monthly labor-market analysis by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget showed St. Joseph County’s 4.5 percent February unemployment rate was less than January’s 5.2 percent.
February’s unemployment rate was 2.3 percent less than the same month a year ago, when the figure was 6.8 percent.
St. Joseph County remained below the state unemployment average, which was 5.8 percent in February.
The recall of support staff in education and scattered job gains in the service sector helped to push jobless rates down across Southwest Michigan, despite the continued seasonal job cuts in construction and retail trade, according to the report.
At 4.3 percent, Kalamazoo County had the region’s lowest unemployment rate in February, while VanBuren County had the highest, at 7.3 percent.