Iowa’s unemployment rate dips below 3 percent for the first time since 2000

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dipped below three percent in Iowa for the first time since December, 2000.

According to a release from Iowa Workforce Development the number of unemployed Iowans decreased to 49,100 - 2.9 percent - in November. That estimate is 10,700 lower than the same time last year.

'Following two months of losses, Iowa businesses displayed growing confidence in the economy in November and added 6,300 jobs to their payrolls,” said Beth Townsend, Iowa Workforce Development director. 'Manufacturing is vital to our state's economic security, and job creation has been especially strong within Iowa's factories.”

Compared to last year, she noted, 'no sector has added more jobs to the Iowa economy than manufacturing. This growth has no doubt contributed to the state's falling unemployment rate, which now rests at 2.9 percent.”

The total number of working Iowans increased to 1,637,600 in November. This figure was 2,000 higher than October and 2,100 higher than one year ago.

These figures do not include people who no longer are looking for work, have cycled out of the system or otherwise are not counted.