Iowa Unemployment Continues To Rise

Iowa’s weekly unemployment claims continue to rise as this virus keeps many parts of the state closed or under restrictions. More Iowa businesses will start opening up after May 8th, 2020, but for now, the unemployment numbers continue climbing.

On April 30th, I wrote that the total number of ongoing weekly unemployment claims in Iowa was at 170,990. That number is now at 181,358. A total of 24,693 initial unemployment claims were filed in the state of Iowa last week. You can see last week's numbers here, courtesy of Iowa Workforce Development.

We will be seeing most of the claims coming from the following industries:

• Manufacturing (6,053)
• Self-employed, independent contractors, etc. (4,010)
• Health care and social assistance (2,988)
• Accommodation and food services (2,200)
• Retail trade (1,768)

The unemployment insurance benefit payments totaled $50,931,302.43 for the week, compared to April's $51,408,623.02.

164,088 Iowans received $111,378,600 in Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation. (FPUC)

15,612 Iowans were paid a total of $10,046,088.94 in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits.

For a closer look,you can check the Iowa unemployment rate by County Map here.