Iowa’s Unemployment Rate Rises to 3.8 Percent in July

North Carolina’s unemployment rate increased to 5.9 percent July, the sixth consecutive month-over-month increase and diverging farther from the national rate.

The gains put the region at 5.4 percent unemployment for July, which matches the state rate.

The national unemployment rate was level from June to July at 5.3 percent. Joblessness in Vermont is the lowest, at 3.6 percent.

But the state’s labor force, which includes the number of people working and looking for work, fell in July by 8,415 people.

Walker’s administration on Wednesday said the latest quarterly data, covering the 12-month period ending in March, Wisconsin added just shy of 40,000 private-sector jobs.

The state’s labor force continued the expansion that began in January, but even more people told surveyors they had jobs in June.

“Once again we see a substantial increase in nonfarm employment compared to a year ago”, Commissioner of Labor John H. Albin said in the release.

Nonfarm employment rose more than 7,800 over the year to hit 998,779 in July, the state said. Mining and logging employment remained unchanged over the month. But North Carolina’s joblessness indicator has inched up in recent months because a growing economy is creating jobs and drawing more previously hopeless workers back into the hunt for jobs, economists say.

Those who reported having jobs in July decreased by almost 12,000 from June to July.

Kentucky’s educational and health services sector declined by 3,600 positions in July 2015, but posted a robust gain of 8,300 jobs over the year.