Iowa’s unemployment rate dropped again in April. “We saw a two-tenths of a percent drop, taking us down to 4.7 percent in April,” according to Kerri Koonce of Iowa Workforce Development.
“Which is significantly below the 5.2 that we were at last year, and again still well below the national rate which was at 7.5 percent.” Koonce says the unemployment rate has not been this low since the recession began.
“It’s been since December of 2008 since we have been this low. So, it’s very good to see us at this level,” Koonce says. “We are also within 10,000 jobs of being back to where our high was prior to the recession as well. So, that’s very good for out state.” Manufacturing had the biggest job losses once the recession started, and while that area is coming back, Koonce says other sectors are leading the way.
“The larger portion of the job growth seems to be coming in some of the other industries. For example, financial activities this month is at an all-time high. It’s never been at 104,300 jobs, so it is significantly above where it was pre recession,” Koonce says. “Education and health services are approaching all-time highs…So, we’re seeing a lot of job growth in some of those sectors.”
Koonce says there looks to be more job expansion as the construction industry gets back into full action. “I know construction is a little low, but part of that is because we had such a rainy spring that made construction hard to get started,” Koonce says.
The estimate of unemployed persons dropped to 77,800 in April from 80,500 in March. The number of unemployed stood at 86,200 one year ago.
