Capitol Notebook: Iowa’s unemployment rate ticks up slightly

DES MOINES — Iowa’s unemployment rate rose slightly, from 2.9 percent in August to 3 percent in September, according to state workforce data published Thursday.

The September rate was a bit lower than the 3.1 percent jobless rate last September, according to data from Iowa Workforce Development.

Iowa remains ahead of the national curve, with the U.S. unemployment rate remaining at 3.8 percent in September.

The umber of unemployed Iowans increased from 50,200 in August to 52,800 in September, while the number of working Iowans decreased to 1.7 million in September, according to state workforce data.

Beth Townsend, director of the state workforce department, said in a news release that national economic uncertainty is impacting the leisure, hospitality and business services sectors, while other industries continue to hire.

Townsend also pitched the state’s re-employment program, which is designed to help unemployed Iowans find work.

Iowa AG urges changes to migrant parole rules

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird joined a multistate letter led by Florida urging President Joe Biden’s administration to change policies she said has led to the “mass release” of undocumented immigrants into the U.S.

The letter, signed by 27 Republican attorneys general, argues that Biden’s Department of Homeland Security has skirted mandatory detention for migrants that cross the border illegally by implementing broad parole policies “as a tool for the mass release of aliens at the Southwest border.”

“Drugs are flowing into our communities, women and children are being trafficked, and mass numbers of illegal aliens are being released into our country with court dates more than a decade into the future,” Bird said in a written statement. “The Biden administration must follow the law and secure our southern border.”

Biden’s administration recently enacted a border policy, which has faced court challenges, meant to more easily expel migrants who seek asylum in the U.S. without first seeking asylum in another country. Migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela can receive parole under certain circumstances.

The attorneys general wrote in the letter that the mechanisms the Department of Homeland Security has used to parole migrants in the U.S. are not in line with the law. They argued the department should amend its regulations to prohibit the release of migrants at the border.

Commercial driver’s license grant

A new grant will help Iowa community colleges expand the use of modernize programs that help individuals obtain a commercial driver’s license, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ office announced.

More than $4.8 million will be awarded to 10 Iowa community colleges to support new equipment and creation or remodeling of driver training facilities, the governor’s office said. The grant should support an estimated increase of 1,305 program participants, the governor’s office said.

“The pathway to finding a job as a truck driver, one of our most-needed occupations, runs through getting a CDL license,” Reynolds said in a news release.

“It’s important that we do everything we can to not only make it easier for individuals to obtain these license, but also to support the long-term viability of the programs that made it possible to gain that experience right here in Iowa.”

Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau