Initial Unemployment, Continuing Claims Down from Last Week

Iowa Workforce Development (IWD) announced there were 6,765 initial unemployment claims filed by individuals for the week of July 26-August 1. This continues the downward trend we’ve seen in the last few weeks. There was approximately $29.9 million paid out of the state unemployment trust fund, which is about $2 million less than the week prior and does not include federal benefits paid. The number of continuing unemployment claims was 104,970, which is about 5,000 claims fewer than last week. The top sectors that saw the most initial claims filed included manufacturing (1,429); those not identified by industry including the self-employed, independent contractors, etc. (981); and health care and social assistance (648).