The latest jobs report from the State Workforce Development Office shows a drop in the unemployment rate for October. Labor market analyst, Ann Wagner, says the October unemployment rate dropped to four-point-five percent, that’s down from the four-point-six percent rate in September and also below the five percent rate one year ago in October. She says the number of unemployed people has gone down slightly over six thousand people in that year.
Wagner says Iowa’s nearing some record levels of employment. She says all of the jobs in the various industries added together is the highest of the year and approaching an all-time record. Right now she ways non-farm jobs stand at just over one-million-482-thousand. Wagner says when you add in ag jobs — it also is a high. She says the total number of employed Iowans, including self-employed in agriculture, is at the highest level of the year. She says that includes just over one-million-577-thousand workers.
Wagner says holiday hiring could play some part in the increase in jobs. She say the strongest growth for the month came in the retail and wholesale trade, and transportation sector. She says the strongest growth over the year was in manufacturing, although she says it is still down 20-thousand jobs from the pre-recession level. The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to five percent in October from five-point-one in September.