by Pat Kinney, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier
WATERLOO — Unemployment rates in Waterloo-Cedar Falls remain the best in nearly a decade.
The unemployment rate for the Waterloo-Cedar Falls metropolitan statistical area, which includes Black Hawk, Bremer and Grundy counties, was 3.3 percent in September, according to Iowa Workforce Development. That’s the lowest in a September since 3.3 percent in September 2007 and the lowest in any month since 3.1 percent in October and November 2007, according to the state agency.
Unemployment claims in Black Hawk County have been slowly decreasing over the last couple of months and they are down 26 percent over last year, IWD officials said.
The declines are concurrent with some steady callbacks of John Deere workers over the past several months who were laid off in a couple of workforce reductions a few years ago.
