The U.S. Department of Labor is conducting its annual revision in labor numbers to start the new year.
Iowa Workforce Development director Beth Townsend says that resulted in the December unemployment number dropping one tenth of a percent. “December was revised to 3.4%, which is the number that was released today for January. So we held steady on unemployment,” she says.
Townsend says the number of people looking for work also increased. “Our labor force participation rate increased to 67.9% which is up from 67.7% in December. We added 6,400 jobs between December and January. And we have more Iowans in the workforce, about 17,000 more now than we did in January of 2025. So those are all good signs,” Townsend says.
She says some areas saw good job growth in January. “Our monthly job gains were primarily in private industries, about five-thousand. So we saw about 1,800 new jobs in professional and business services. We saw construction hiring increased by 1,300,” she says. Townsend says manufacturing added 1,000 jobs and non-durable goods and education and health services added 1,100 jobs.
She says there were some loses in season industries. “Not surprising, retail and hospitality saw a decrease of 200 jobs in January. I don’t think that probably shocks anybody,” she says. “We usually see that pick up again as the weather warms up and people are more out and about. We saw some decrease in trade, transportation, and utilities.”
Townsend says the revised numbers for February will be out in a couple of weeks and give more information on how the Iowa economy is doing.