(The Center Square) – New unemployment claims in Iowa fell to 3,859 in the week ending May 29. That’s two less than the previous week’s 3,861 claims.
However, according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics released Thursday, overall unemployment in the state is once again on the rise. The DOL reports unemployment in the state currently stands at 26,737 claims, 1,482 claims over the previous week’s numbers.
Employers have complained that generous state and federal unemployment benefits have given some laid-off workers more income from federal and state payments than they normally make on the job, which has made it harder to bring those people back to work.
Nationally, 385,000 new jobless claims were filed in the week that ended May 29, a decrease of 22,000 claims from the previous week, according to the Labor Department.
That’s the lowest level for new claims since the week of March 14, 2020, the federal agency said.
Continuing claims increased by 169,000 to about 3.7 million nationally for the week that ended May 22.
Despite the improving economic conditions, more than 15.4 million Americans were still receiving state or federal jobless benefits in the week ending May 15, the agency reported.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending May 15 were in Nevada (5.5 percent), Rhode Island (4.6 percent), Puerto Rico (4.5 percent), Connecticut (4.3 percent), Alaska (4.2 percent), New York (3.8 percent), Pennsylvania (3.8 percent), Illinois (3.6 percent), California (3.5 percent), and District of Columbia (3.5 percent).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending May 22 were in Delaware (+2,187), Illinois (+1,688), Pennsylvania (+1,347), California (+773), and Rhode Island (+644), while the largest decreases were in Washington (-8,020), New Jersey (-5,290), Florida (-4,679), Ohio (-3,844), and Michigan (-2,605).
