January Unemployment Sets Record Low Record

(Dodge County) Jobless filings increased in the region and around the state from December to January. According to the latest numbers from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, Dodge County is in a tie for the sixth-lowest unemployment rate in the state. Dodge County recorded a 2.8-percent in January, up a half percent from prior month but nearly a full-percentage point below the 3.7-percent posted in January of last year. Columbia County is also up a half-percent over the two-month period to 2.9-percent. Jefferson County increased seven-tenths from December-to-January, to 3.2-percent. The January rate in Dodge, Columbia and Jefferson counties were all nine-tenths lower than the same month in 2017. Fond du Lac County was up a half-percent to 2.7-percent while Washington County ticked four-tenths higher to 2.6-percent; both lower from the previous January by seven-tenths of a percent. Preliminary January 2018 rates decreased in all 72 counties when compared over the year to January 2017. The rate increased in every county from December to January except two. Sixty-one (61) of Wisconsin’s 72 counties reached their lowest January unemployment rate on current record. The rates ranged from 2.2-percent in Dane County to six-percent in Iron County. Wisconsin’s seasonally-adjusted jobless rate last month was 3.1-percent, one full percentage point below the national average.