DES MOINES, Iowa - Weekly jobless claims in Iowa are showing positive signs.
Ongoing weekly claims, which most accurately align with the state's actual unemployment rate, are down by10 percent. Ongoing claims were down 3 percent in the previous week.
First time jobless claims have also dropped in the most recent week after rising the week before.
Iowa's overall unemployment rate is the eighth lowest in the country at 3.6 percent.
By the numbers, first time weekly jobless claims are down by 846 from 6,125 to 5,279, a drop of 14 percent. First time claims actually rose by 32 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 down by 3,756 from 37,872 to 34,116, reflecting the drop of 10 percent.
Ongoing claims reached a peak in the early stages of the pandemic of more than 191,000 in late May of 2020.