Boone, Iowa—Last week, Iowa Workforce Development reported the number of initial unemployment claims increased slightly from the previous week. The Thursday numbers showed 7,644 Iowans filed initial unemployment claims for the previous week. That number was up by 373. Increases are expected at this time of the year due to seasonal layoffs in construction, agriculture, landscaping and manufacturing. Over 70% of those filing indicated their claims were non COVID-19 related.

Earlier in December, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for Iowa was 3.6% in November, down from 3.7% in October. The 2019 November rate was 2.8%.

Individual county numbers changed slightly, October to November. Boone County was unchanged at 2.3% and Story County was unchanged at 2.0%.  Also unchanged was Dallas County at 2.2%. A decline was reported in Polk County, 3.5% down from 3.7%.  Green County, Hamilton County and Webster County all reported a slight increase.