Unemployment insurance taxes to improve in 2013 for most

The Iowa's unemployment insurance tax tables have moved in a positive direction for businesses that pay the tax for the second year.

Iowa Workforce Development said Tuesday that the average unemployment insurance rate for employers in 2013 will decline from 2.4 percent to 2.0 percent.

The agency said the new employer non-construction rate will decline from 1.5 percent of payroll in 2012 to 1.1 percent in 2013.

Unemployment tax rates are based on wages and recent unemployment benefit payments. For those who track the mechanism used to set the rate, the 2013 improvement will result from moving from tax table four to table five.

Teresa Wahlert, the agency's director,  said Iowa has one of the lowest unemployment insurance tax rates in the United States.