New Iowa unemployment claims rise as some seasonal jobs end

New unemployment claims in Iowa rose to 5,576 - an increase of almost 1,000 - in the first week of November. It's the third consecutive week with increases in new claims.

Iowa Workforce Development attributed the rise to seasonal layoffs in manufacturing, construction, agriculture and other industries.

IWD said 45 percent of claimants said their unemployment was not related to coronavirus.

Continuing claims decreased, though, for the 10th consecutive week. Last week week's number of continuing claims - 35,660 - was down from 36,982 the previous week.

Manufacturing remained the largest source of claims with 1,005, followed by self-employed and independent contractors with 743, construction with 634, health care and social assistance with 629 and retail trade with 365.

Iowans received $10.1 million in standard unemployment benefits, $8.1 million in Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation, $3.6 million in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and $1.6 million in State Extended Benefits, which expired Oct. 31.

Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, which gave an additional $600 per week to those unemployed, ended at the end of July, but residents received $1.5 million in retroactive payments.

These numbers only include people actively seeking work and therefore do not necessarily give a full picture of how many people are unemployed.

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