DES MOINES, Iowa - Weekly jobless claims in Iowa are showing at least one positive sign.
Ongoing weekly claims, which most accurately align with the state's actual unemployment rate, are down by 3 percent.
First time jobless claims, which tend to fluctuate from week to week, were up a bit.
Iowa's overall unemployment rate is the eighth lowest in the country.
By the numbers, first time weekly jobless claims are up by 2,168 from 4,602 to 6,770, an increase of about 32 percent. First time claims were down by 4 percent in the previous week, but increased by13 percent two weeks back.
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 1,015 from 39,657 to 38,642, reflecting the drop of 3 percent.
Ongoing claims reached a peak in the early stages of the pandemic of more than 191,000 in late May of 2020.
For the week, unemployment insurance benefit payments totaled $12,689,851.84, a drop from $13,287,062.58 in the previous week.
The following industries had the most claims:
- Self-employed, Independent Contractors (1,950)
- Manufacturing (974)
- Construction (407)
- Accommodation & Food Services (404)
- Retail Trade (395)