In December, the Sioux Falls and Rapid City metro areas lost their frequent spots as the locations with the lowest unemployment rates in the country.
The Sioux Falls metro area rate was 2.3 percent, and Rapid City’s was 2.2 percent, both higher than the 1.9 percent rates recorded in the Alabama metro areas of Decatur and Huntsville. Several other metro areas in that state and ones in Hawaii, Indiana and Vermont had rates lower than or the same as Sioux Falls, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The November unemployment rate for Sioux Falls was 2 percent, the lowest in the country. Rapid City’s rate was the next lowest at 2.1 percent.
For the Sioux Falls metro area, which includes Minnehaha, Lincoln, McCook and Turner counties and Rock County in Minnesota, the 2.3 percent rate in December represents 4,078 unemployed people, according to the South Dakota Department of Labor & Regulation. In November, the number of unemployed was 3,547…