DES MOINES, Iowa - The weekly jobless report for Iowa shows continued improvement.
Ongoing weekly jobless claims, which reflect the actual unemployment rate, are down 6 percent.
Ongoing claims are down for the 16th week in a row, and have dropped nearly 80 percent from their peak in early May.
First time jobless claims in Iowa inched up slight in the last week. First time claims rose by 613 to 4,964 from 4,351 the week before.
Ongoing claims dropped by 2,535, from 39,825 to 37,290, reflecting the nearly 6 percent drop.
Iowa's overall unemployment rate is 4.7 percent, the 5th lowest in the country.
Unemployment insurance benefit payments totaled $10,416,685.95 in the most recent week.
The industries with the most jobless claims in the most recent week are listed below:
- Manufacturing (1,227)
- Construction (693)
- Industry Not Available - Self-employed, Independent Contractors, etc (593)
- Health Care & Social Assistance (441)
- Administrative, Support, Waste Management, and Remediation Services (294)