July Unemployment Down in Lake County...

...workers simply disappear?

Good news—I think—from the South Dakota Department of Labor: Lake County's unemployment rate dropped back down to 6.2% in July. That erases the bad jump to 7.6% we had in June and then some.

But that figure is still double our 2008 average of 3.1%. That figure also appears to be the result not of businesses hiring Lake County residents, but of Lake County workers punting. Lake County actually lost 15 jobs in July, but 125 people left the labor force, resulting in a net decline in the raw number of unemployed folks of 110.

Meanwhile, neighboring Brookings County saw unemployment drop just a tick, from 3.8% to 3.7%, still higher than it's been since 2002. At this rate, we might catch up with Brookings in a couple months! But let's try doing it by adding jobs, not sending workers away.