The first real look at the local impact of job loss related to COVID-19 was released this week by Iowa Workforce Development.

County-by-county data show considerable impact of closures related to containing the virus, and Marion County’s unemployment rate was at 2.4% in February, and has since jumped to 8.3%. According to Iowa Workforce Development, there were 18,140 employees and 470 without work seeking jobs in April 2019 — there were 16,590 employees this April, and an estimated 1,500 receiving unemployment benefits.

Data for May unemployment numbers will be released in late June by Iowa Workforce Development.