New numbers show South Dakota’s unemployment rate fell to 6 percent in July.
That’s good and bad.
It’s good because the rate is down for a third straight month, after spiking to 11 percent in April. That was South Dakota's highest rate since the government started reporting the data in 1976.
But it’s also bad, because 6 percent is still higher than South Dakota’s modern pre-pandemic high of 5 percent. That happened during the Great Recession in 2009.
Nationally, South Dakota was one of 30 states with a falling unemployment rate in July. The state had the fifth-lowest rate in the nation. Kentucky, Idaho, Nebraska and Utah had lower rates.
The nationwide unemployment rate in July was 10 percent.