Unemployment Rate Hits 3.5% for January

Iowa’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 3.5 percent from December, which had a rate of 3.7 percent. Iowa’s rate is lower than the U.S. unemployment rate for January, which fell to 6.3 percent.

The construction sector experienced its second-consecutive monthly increase and had the most jobs added in January, with 1,000 jobs. Since last May, manufacturing has also added 7,000 total jobs. Most of these additions have been in nondurable goods shops. Private education hiring also led to 700 jobs in education and health services in January. The leisure and hospitality sector, as well as financial activities, also saw small increases. Retail experienced the greatest loss after seeing a large gain last month due to the holiday shopping season. 

Iowa added 8,200 workers in January and the total number of working Iowans increased that month to 1,587,800. The number of Iowans who are unemployed dropped by 2,500 in January to 57,400. Read the news release from Iowa Workforce Development.