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After consecutive months of steady increases, the unemployment rate for Marion County decreased in April. According to information released Wednesday by Iowa Workforce development, 7.9 percent of Marion County’s workforce was unemployed – down from 8.5 percent in March.

Despite the decrease in the jobless rate, Marion County is still above the statewide average for the month of April, which rose slightly to 6.9 percent. A reason behind the higher unemployment rate in the county appears to be an increased number of available workers, which are outnumbering the number of new jobs or hires.

Marion County’s 7.9 percent unemployment rate is still well below the national average, which inched up to 9.9 percent in April from 9.7 percent in March. Iowa’s jobless rate was 5.5 percent in April of 2009.

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