Local employment picture brightens slightly in March

The Cedar Rapids Metropolitan Statistical Area registered much smaller job gains in March than in the two previous years.

The March jobless rate of 6 percent was down from 6.2 percent in February and from 6.5 percent in March 2011 on a non-seasonally adjusted basis.

The Cedar Rapids MSA gained 300 jobs to stand at 134,000 jobs. The 300 job gain was significantly less than the February-to-March gain of 1,100 seen in the two preceding years, according to Iowa Workforce Development.

Two sectors collected most of the new jobs. Two hundred new jobs each were recorded in the natural resources and construction sector and the leisure and hospitality sector. Government shed 200 jobs.,

Nonfarm employment in the Iowa City MSA increased 500 from March, to 91,700. The largest gain was in the government sector, which added 500 jobs.

The Iowa City MSA unemployment rate remained stable at 4.1 percent.

The city unemployment rate for Cedar Rapids remained unchanged at 5.9 percent in March, while the Iowa City unemployment rate skipped upward to 3.5 percent from 3.2 percent.