The economic turmoil took its toll on another Ames business last Tuesday, as Sauer-Danfoss, 2800 E. 13th St., announced the laying off of 145 workers.

Despite this setback, the Ames economy remains very strong, said officials from the Chamber of Commerce and Ames Economic Development Commission.

The organizations don’t directly track layoffs, so there’s no way of knowing how many workers have been let go, but recent figures for May put Ames’ unemployment at 3.8 percent, said Megan Backman, program manager of Ames Economic Development Commission.

That percentage is an increase from previous months.

“Less than a year ago, we were at 2.7 [percent],” said Ron Hallenbeck, vice president of existing business and industry for the commission.

Comparatively, Ames has a lower unemployment percentage than the state and national levels. Iowa Workforce Development statistics show that May unemployment was 5.8 percent statewide and 9.4 percent nationwide, compared to Ames’ 3.8 percent.

But, that doesn’t mean the recession has passed over Ames completely.

“Businesses have definitely cut back,” Hallenbeck said.

For some, cutting back means reducing hours. Other businesses, like Sauer-Danfoss, have been forced to make layoffs.

But the fundamentals of Ames’s economy are strong, Hallenbeck said.

“Ames itself is weathering the economic downturn. While we are being impacted, we’re still doing fairly well,” Hallenbeck said.

Hallenbeck indicated that a major reason for the relative strength of the Ames economy is balance.

According to Hallenbeck, Ames has benefitted from having a diverse group of employers, including many high-tech businesses in fields such as advanced manufacturing, biotechnology and information systems.

Public employers have also helped Ames.

“You have to take a look at the base of our economic engine,” Hallenbeck said. “We have a lot of businesses that are related to government entities.”

Those related to these entities would include Iowa State, as well as facilities run by the Iowa Department of Transportation, the United States Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of Energy.

“We have a large balance between these government entities and private enterprise. There’s a lot of other places that don’t have that balance,” Hallenbeck said.