DES MOINES, Iowa - Iowa's weekly jobless claims are a mixed bag, but are showing a long term downward trend.
First time jobless claims are up significantly.
But ongoing claims, which more closely reflect the state's unemployment rate, are down almost 8 percent, following a similar drop the week before.
Iowa's overall unemployment rate remains one of the lowest in the country - 6th lowest at 3.5 percent.
By the numbers, first time weekly jobless claims are up by 791 from 5,182 to 5,973, a jump of about 13 percent. First time claims jumped by almost 24 percent in the previous week.
First time claims can wobble by seemingly wide margins from week to week without greatly impacting overall longer range numbers.
Ongoing claims for the most recent week are down by 3,314, from 44,013 to 40,699, reflecting the drop of roughly 8 percent. Ongoing claims dropped by 7 percent in the previous week
Ongoing claims reached a peak in the early stages of the pandemic of more than 191,000 in late May of 2020.
Unemployment insurance benefit payments for the week totaled $14,116,844.30, a significant drop from $17,224,724 just two weeks ago. The following industries had the most claims:
- Manufacturing (838)
- Industry Not Available - Self-employed, Independent Contractors, etc (685)
- Construction (554)
- Retail Trade (338)
- Health Care & Social Assistance (323)