The Quad Cities metro area ended the quarter with approximately 181,600 nonfarm payroll jobs, which was about 1,700 jobs fewer than the 183,300 in December 2023 (not seasonally adjusted). This is a slight improvement over what we reported in the previous quarter when jobs were down 2,500 from the same quarter a year ago.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the metro area gained 700 jobs since the end of the third quarter.

At the end of the quarter, the unemployment rate in the metro area was 4.5% up from 3.9% a year ago, but down from 5.4% in October. Unemployment rates in the Chamber service area ranged from 3.4% in Muscatine County to 5.1% in Rock Island County.

In the previous two quarters, we have noted that the effects of recent layoff announcements would start showing up in the data by the third quarter. We still see those effects in the fourth quarter, although as noted above there has been a slight rebound in the last few months.

In our Weekly Economic Trends and Indicators blog (Feb. 25), we note the recent trends in manufacturing employment in the Quad Cities and the corresponding national trends in manufacturing industrial production.This is an important indicator because manufacturing supports so many other regional jobs. While manufacturing has been relatively flat in 2024, there is capacity for growth when global conditions improve.