Iowa’s unemployment rate increases to 3.2 percent in October

Iowa’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 3.2 percent in October, up from 3.1 percent a year ago. The state’s labor force participation rate decreased from 68.6 percent to 68.4 percent but remains 0.3 percent higher than one year ago. Meanwhile, the U.S. unemployment rate rose to 3.9 percent in October, and the national labor force participation rate fell to 62.7 percent.

The number of unemployed Iowans increased to 56,000 in October from 52,800 in September.

The total number of working Iowans decreased to 1,679,900 in October. This figure is 8,300 lower than September and 13,600 higher than one year ago.

“October’s numbers demonstrate that national economic pressures and the federal government’s efforts to slow inflation are having an impact on Iowa,” Beth Townsend, executive director of Iowa Workforce Development, said. “As we enter the winter, when we traditionally see higher seasonal unemployment rates, we will most likely see these trends continue. However, there are still almost 65,000 open jobs on IowaWORKS.gov.

”I encourage any Iowan who is impacted by this economic slowdown to look first to IWD for assistance. Our team works every day to connect workers with employers, and we know these efforts are successful as evidenced by Iowa having the shortest average duration for unemployment claims in more than 50 years.”