DES MOINES, Iowa - Iowa's weekly jobless claims are back in their downward trend after a one week wobble.
Both first time and ongoing unemployment claims are down substantially, with first time claims falling by about a third.
Fewer than six-thousand Iowans filed first time claims in the most recent week.
Ongoing claims, which reflect the actual unemployment rate, are a fraction of their pandemic high mark back in May.
Iowa Workforce Development attributed the previous week spike in claims to seasonal changes during the holiday period.
By the numbers, weekly jobless claims dropped to 5,593 from 8,930 in the prior week, a decline of 37 percent. Ongoing claims fell from 36,802 to 34,178, a drop of 7 percent. By comparison, ongoing claims reached a peak in the early stages of the pandemic of more than 191,000 in late may.
Iowa overall unemployment rate is 3.6 percent.
Unemployment insurance benefit payments totaled $8,142,234.45, down from $10,269,549.21 in the previous week.
The following industries had the most claims:
- Construction (1,273)
- Manufacturing (983)
- Industry Not Available - Self-employed, Independent Contractors, etc (554)
- Accommodation & Food Services (455)
- Health Care & Social Assistance (406)