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In southeast Iowa, more than 300 lost their jobs in one month's time.

According to new data from Iowa Workforce Development, Wapello County saw unemployment rates jump from 5.1 percent in November to 6.1 percent in December.

That means 180 people will go without a paycheck in Wapello County alone.

Van Buren, Davis, Henry and Monroe counties also saw unemployment rates increase in December.

In Jefferson County, 50 people lost their jobs. Their unemployment rate jumped from 4.8 percent in November to 5.4 percent in December.

Fairfield Economic Development Association Executive Director Brent Willett told KTVO that the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 could be the toughest time, economically, for the city.

"The vast majority of our employers are competing very really in a global market, those employers of ours are producing products, have seen orders either slow down or it, in some cases, nearly stop because their customers have slowed down purchases," Willett said.

Willett also said an economic stimulus package from Washington D.C. would benefit Fairfield because a large amount of the city's labor force works in infrastructure development.   

Check out the unemployment numbers for the entire state of Iowa: http://www.iowaworkforce.org/lmi/laborforce/locallaborforce.html