Iowa’s unemployment rate decreases to 3.5 percent in January

Iowa's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 3.5 percent in January, Iowa Workforce Development said Monday, marking an increase from the preliminary December unemployment rate but a decrease from the adjusted numbers.

IWD initially reported December's unemployment rate at 3.1 percent. But after adjustments from the U.S. Department of Labor, it was restated at 3.7 percent.

January saw a decrease in unemployed Iowans by 2,500 and an increase in employment by 8,200, suggesting some Iowans who previously had not been seeking work regained jobs.

Iowa's labor force participation rate increased from 65.3 percent to 65.5 percent.

The numbers still are significantly off par from where Iowa stood in January 2020, when the unemployment rate was 2.8 percent and the labor force participation rate was 70 percent.

The leisure and hospitality sector has seen the largest loss of jobs since January of last year with 26,800, followed by education and health services with 15,300, government with 13,100 and manufacturing with 5,400.

Iowa's unemployment rate in January 2021 remains in the top 10 among states, though.

The jobless rate in Linn County was 3.5 percent, and Johnson County's was 2.3 percent. County-level numbers are not seasonally adjusted.

The January 2021 numbers are preliminary and are yet to be adjusted by the U.S. Department of Labor. The unemployment rate also only includes people actively seeking work and therefore does not necessarily give a full picture of how many people are out of work.

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