The state unemployment rate held at 3.2% for the third month in a row in July. Iowa Workforce Development deputy director Georgia Van Gundy says the labor force participation rate did fall two tenths of a percent, which she attributed to two things.
“More retirements occurring and then also some later than normal seasonal layoffs within schools,” Van Gundy says. She says several sectors have seen job growth. “Healthcare and social assistance has added 4,800 over the last 12 months. And construction is now at 3,300 jobs for the year, adding ,, and then finance and insurance has added 1,200 over the year, which we see that as a positive,” she says.
Van Gunday says manufacturing losses seem to be slowing down some. “Manufacturing is down 2,100 jobs in the year, mostly due to durable goods. But I would tell you, this year we have seen a lot less warn notices. So those are the notices that companies file when they’re laying off than we have last year,” Van Gundy says.
Van Gundy says IWD has been working with employers to try to make sure they get connected with the talent that they need. She says they’ve been doing roundtables around the state with businesses to understand what are your workforce concerns right now.
Van Gundy says the unemployment claims show people are not unemployed for long after being laid off.
“They continue to remain at historically low levels. So July saw a decrease from June’s numbers. So that’s a positive as well,” she says.
Van Gundy says the state hasn’t seen significant job increases, it just continues to be steadily moving forward and adding jobs a little bit every month.