RACINE COUNTY - Unemployment climbed by another .5 percent from February to March for both the county and city of Racine, according to state estimates released Wednesday.

The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development put this county's jobless rate for March at 10.7 percent, compared with 10.2 percent in February.

The city of Racine's rate moved up by the same amount, from 15.8 percent in February to 16.3 percent in March. That is equivalent to nearly one of every six job-holders or job-seekers being out of work.

In the 12 months from last March to this March, the county's jobless rate jumped from 5.8 percent to 10.7 percent, nearly doubling.

Over the same period the city of Racine's rate also nearly doubled, going from 8.6 percent to 16.3 percent.

Although the rates headed upward in March, the pace of increase was not nearly as steep as that from January to February, when the city's rate soared by 2 percent in one month.

The new rates were high-water marks at least since March 1985, when the county jobless rate was an estimated 11.3 percent.

The Village of Mount Pleasant also broke the 10 percent barrier in March with a 10.4 percent jobless rate. Its rate sat at 9.6 percent in February.

For the city of Racine, jobless records go back only to 1990, and even February's 15.8 percent rate was the highest since then.

The city of Racine was second-highest in unemployment among Wisconsin cities in March, to Beloit's 17.7 percent.

Jobless rates are based on where people live. Looking at where jobs are located, the state estimated that this county lost about 2,400 jobs between February 2008 and last month.

Thirteen cities around the state had climbed above 10 percent unemployment in March, according to agency estimates. The others were Appleton, Fond du Lac, Green Bay, Janesville, Kenosha, Manitowoc, Milwaukee, Sheboygan, Waukesha, Wausau and West Bend.

Other area municipal jobless rates last month included:

- Village of Caledonia, 3.2 percent.

- Franklin, 6.8 percent.

- Kenosha, 11.2 percent.

- Milwaukee, 11.0 percent.

- Oak Creek, 7.7 percent.

- West Allis, 9.5 percent.