Unemployment rate jumps up

Iowa’s unemployment rate crept up in April to three-point-six percent.State labor market analyst Ann Wagner says the rate jumped two-tenths of a percent from March. Wagner says the numbers show there’s not a lot of momentum in the job market, she says we bottomed out on layoffs during the fourth quarter of 2001, so that may change. Wagner says economists pay particular attention to the manufacturing sector where there was some improvement in March, but in April, 500 Iowa manufacturing workers lost their jobs. Wagner, though, says Iowa’s unemployment rate is still pretty good when compared to other states. She says Iowa is one of a handful of states which typically have low unemployment rates.The national unemployment rate in April was six percent, the highest it’s been in eight years.