Apr. 22--DES MOINES -- Unemployment in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls metropolitan followed the national upward trend, but only relatively slightly, according to Iowa Workforce Development.

The area's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate edged upward, from 4.9 percent in February to 5.2 percent in March, from January to February and, for the second straight month, matched Iowa's statewide jobless figure, IWD reported.

A year ago, unemployment in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls metro area was 4 percent.

Iowa's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 5.2 percent in March from 4.9 percent in February. The statewide jobless rate was reported at 3.9 percent one year ago.

Both the Cedar Valley and the state continued to trail national jobless figures by a wide margin. The U.S. unemployment rate increased to 8.5 percent in March from 8.1 percent in February, and from 5.1 percent one year ago.

"Knock on wood, that is a good indicator that our local economy has diversified and our employers have been investing in the kind of technologies and the kinds of customers that would allow them to maintain strength in tough economic times," said Steve Dust, president of the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance.

Stability at Waterloo's John Deere operations has helped keep the Cedar Valley withstand pressures of the current recession, said Ann Wagner, IWD spokeswoman.

"In other areas of the state, there's been layoffs in the construction industry. (The Cedar Valley has) had layoffs that are housing-related, tied in with home building, but you haven't had many major things from your area like many metro areas have had."

The area is not without its challenges, however. Birmingham, Ala.-based O'Neal Steel, for example, laid off 20 percent of its employees -- about 20 workers from its Waterloo operation, according to the plant's general manager, Blake Bannon -- in about three waves. The layoffs included unionized and nonunionized workers, Bannon said.

"It really stems from local economic conditions," Bannon said. "We get driven from the circumstances at Terex, which rolls down to us."

On Feb. 27, Westport, Conn.-based Terex Cranes, which wiped out a second shift and laid off 150 workers in Waverly at the end of January, announced a month-long closure of the Waverly plant between March 16 and April 13. The shutdown affected all 288 full-time employees, plus 28 contract workers.

O'Neal supplies a variety of products to customers in the agriculture and construction industries.

"It's really a direct correlation with what the rest of the economy is doing with equipment demand," Bannon said.

O'Neal's layoffs are not permanent; indeed, "a couple" of workers already have come back to work, Bannon said, adding that others will be called back as demands require.

Progressive Tool in Waterloo recently laid off about a dozen workers, and those employees will be recalled as the market improves, said Carl Meyer, the company's president.

"We're working through a tough industry right now," Meyer said. "The baseline is the industry is going through a big hiccup."

Progressive's round of layoffs ran from early in the fall to about the end of February, Meyer estimated. He added that nobody had been laid off since then.

Among Iowa's 99 counties, Winnebago, home of the motor-home builder of the same name, had the state's highest jobless rate, at 11.5 percent, according to IWD.

March jobless rates for Northeast Iowa counties, with the February 2009 and March 2008 rates respectively in parentheses:

Benton 6.2 (6.2, 4.4); Black Hawk 5.2 (4.9, 4.1); Bremer 4.8 (4.5, 3.7); Buchanan 6.4 (5.8, 5); Butler 6.4, (5.9, 5.4); Chickasaw, 8.8 (8.7, 5); Delaware 7.3, (6.9, 4.4); Fayette 7.8 (7.9, 6); Floyd 8.6 (8.8, 5.7); Franklin 7 (6.6, 4.9); Grundy 5.6 (5.1, 3.8); Howard 9.1 (10.1, 4.6); Mitchell 5.9 (5.9, 4.3); Tama 7.5 (7.7, 6); Winnebago 11.5 (8.6, 4.4); and Winneshiek 7.2 (7.5, 4.7).

Contact Jim Offner at (319) 291-1598 or jim.offner@wcfcourier.com.

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