Iowa unemployment claims decrease in week of April 4

Iowa saw decreases in new and continuing claims in the week of April 4, Iowa Workforce Development said Thursday.

New claims dropped from 6,125 to 5,279, and continuing claims fell from 37,872 to 34,116. It’s the lowest number of continuing claims in a week since November.

The percentage of claims related to the pandemic rose from 49.1 percent to 54.3 percent.

Manufacturing was the largest source of claims with 1,545, followed by self-employed and independent contractors with 738, retail trade with 381, accommodation and food services with 336, and health care and social assistance with 332.

In Linn County, manufacturing accounted for 339 initial claims, which was more than all other industries combined.

Iowa issued $18.1 million in Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, $10.4 million in standard benefits, $7.9 million in Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation and $3 million in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

These numbers are preliminary and are yet to be adjusted by the U.S. Department of Labor. They also only include people actively seeking work and therefore do not necessarily give a complete picture of how many people are out of work.

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