Iowa unemployment rate drops to 10 percent in May

Iowa's unemployment rate is at 10 percent for the month of May, Iowa Workforce Development announced Friday morning.

It's a slight decrease from Iowa's 11 percent jobless rate for the month of April.

Iowa's numbers also are below the national unemployment rate for May — 13.3 percent.

'Given Iowa did not begin to reopen until May, it is not surprising that the unemployment rate remains at 10 percent,' said Beth Townsend, Iowa Workforce Development director, in a statement.

'There are signs, however, that more people are returning to work as we see the total number of claims decline each week.'

The number of unemployed Iowans decreased from 188,000 to 168,100 in May, but the number of working Iowans also decreased to from 1,524,600 to 1,520,000.

It's still far from pre-pandemic unemployment numbers. At this time last year, the state unemployment rate was 2.7 percent.

These numbers only record those Iowans who actively are seeking work and does not necessarily show a complete picture of everyone who is unemployed, such as those who have stopped looking or who have cycled out of the system.

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