St. Croix County’s June Unemployment Rate is 4.6%

On July 24th, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD) announced the preliminary June 2013 unemployment rates for Wisconsin’s 72 counties. St. Croix County’s rate was estimated at 4.6%, which is higher than May’s rate of 4.4%, but lower than April’s rate of 5.2%. One year ago, the county’s unemployment rate was estimated at 5.7%.

DWD said 56 of the 72 counties had rate increases between May and June and 16 had rate decreases or no change. Compared to June 2012, the rates in 64 of the counties either declined or remained the same. Of Wisconsin’s 32 municipalities with a population of least 25,000 residents, 30 experienced a rate increase and two had no change between May and June. Compared to one year ago, the rates in 29 of the 32 communities either declined or remained the same.

St. Croix’s unemployment rate for June is the lowest in the state for the second straight month, according to DWD. Nearby Pierce at the second-lowest rate at 4.9%, followed by Dane (5.1%), Pepin (5.5%), and Trempealeau (5.5%). Menominee (17.7%) had the highest unemployment rate in June, followed by Iron (11.2%), Ashland (10.1%), Forest (9.6%), and Lincoln (9.2%).

St. Croix, Pierce, Polk, and Dunn counties comprise Wisconsin’s Greater St. Croix Valley. In addition to the June rates for St. Croix and Pierce (above), Dunn’s rate was 6.3% (up from May’s final rate of 5.9%) and Polk’s rate was 7.2% (the same as May’s rate). Year over year, all four counties had lower unemployment rates.

The 16-county Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington MN-WI metro area reported an unemployment rate of 5.1% in June, and is up from May’s rate of 4.7%. One year ago, the unemployment rate in the Twin Cities was 5.9%.

The preliminary (seasonally adjusted) unemployment rate for Wisconsin for June was estimated at 6.8%, which is lower than may’s rate of 7.0% and April’s rate of 7.1%. One year ago, the state’s seasonally adjusted rate was 7.0%.

The preliminary (seasonally adjusted) unemployment rate in Minnesota for June was estimated at 5.2%, which is down from the May rate of 5.3%. Minnesota’s seasonally adjusted rate one year ago was 5.7%.

The preliminary (seasonally adjusted) unemployment rate in the U.S. in June was estimated at 7.6%, which is the same rate as May’s, but higher than April’s rate of 7.5%. One year ago the U.S. rate was estimated at 8.2%.

June’s estimates are preliminary and are subject to revision within the next few weeks.