Jobs available throughout region as unemployment rate ticks up

It seems everyone is hiring, with unemployment rates high and employers in need of workers throughout Dodge County, according to area experts.
The unemployment rate for Dodge County in February was 5.2 percent, a slight increase from January and a jump from 4.2 percent in February of last year. Dodge County has the highest jobless rate in the region, said Desirae Dyke, Employer Outreach Specialist with Workforce Development Inc.
“The restaurant industry was definitely hit hard,” Dyke said.
Unemployment was higher in Dodge County than other areas because residents primarily commute out of the county for employment. People are also dropping out of the labor force because of safety concerns due to COVID and lack of child care as parents stay home to oversee their distance or hybrid learners.
“With the extension of pandemic unemployment benefits, individuals are not returning to the labor force as quickly,” Dyke said. “The hospitality industry has also been very slow to come back due to restrictions with restaurants and bars, so those employees experience a much longer unemployment than most.”
At Hardware Hank in Kasson, owner Greg Kuball is seeking one or two part-time employees. “We are always looking to hire the right person,” he said.
Kuball seeks well-rounded employees, as they’re responsible for every part of the store. “They need to do everything,” he said. “People don ‘t come in here and say ‘I’m going to work in the plumbing department or I’m only going to do receiving.’ There is no ‘only’ for me. So, what I need to find is someone who can do everything.”
Mark Schultz, regional labor market analyst with the Department of Employment and Economic Development, said that “the big story is from March until May of 2020 – so when the pandemic hit and the closures started happening and continued to happen – the number of unemployed people more than doubled. It jumped from March of 2020, 463 unemployed individuals to 981 in May of 2020. So, it more than doubled in just that two-month period.”
Accommodation and food services were the hardest industry hit, he said. The number of jobs in food services from first quarter to the second quarter of 2020 in Dodge County dropped 44.1 percent, Schultz said.
“That was the industry hardest hit,” he said.
Manufacturing has also taken a hit, losing 55 jobs from the second quarter to the third quarter of 2020. It saw a loss of 3.3 percent.