According to a report released yesterday (Thursday) by Iowa Workforce Development, the state’s unemployment rate in February dropped below 3.0 percent for the first time since September of last year. Iowa unemployment dropped to 2.9 percent from 3.0 percent in January. Despite ongoing inflation challenges and rising interest rates, IWD Director Beth Townsend says, “New data show that Iowans continue to move from unemployed to employed. In February, we saw more Iowans who had been looking for work find a job, and we maintained our increased labor force participation rate.” Iowa’s economy has grown by 8,400 jobs since the beginning of the pandemic, which Townsend suggests is a strong indicator of the state’s resiliency in challenging conditions. Overall, the total number of working Iowans climbed by 1,300 in February to 1,671,200. The number of unemployed Iowans decreased by 1,100 from 51,200 in January to 50,100 in February, with a stable labor force participation rate of 68.1 percent. Iowa’s unemployment rate remained below national figures, which also saw improvement from 3.6 percent at the year’s start to 3.4 percent last month. County-by-county statistics are expected to be released early next week, and Carroll Broadcasting will bring you more information once that data is available.
