(The Center Square) – Unemployment in Iowa dropped 644 new claims from the previous week, according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics released Thursday.
For the week ending May 29, the state reported 2,736 new unemployment claims, 644 claims below the previous week’s 3,380 tally. Total unemployment in Iowa also dropped by 107 claims, down from 25,588 claims to 25,481 claims.
Nationwide, unemployment decreased by 258,000 claims to 3,499,000 claims. The DOL notes this is the lowest unemployment since March 2020, when national unemployment was 3,094,000 prior to the beginning of measures to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The good news is tempered by the DOL’s announcement consumer prices increased at the fastest annual rate since August 2008. According to May numbers, the national consumer price index increased 5% year over year, exceeding an anticipated 4.7% increase. Prices in May increased month over month increased by 0.6%, above the projected 0.4%, indicating impending inflation.
The highest insured unemployment rates in the week ending May 22 were in Nevada (4.8%), Rhode Island (4.5%), Connecticut (4.2%), Puerto Rico (4.1%), California (4.0%), Alaska (3.9%), Pennsylvania (3.9%), New York (3.7%), Illinois (3.6%), and District of Columbia (3.3%).
The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending May 29 were in Pennsylvania (+7,064), Illinois (+4,298), Kentucky (+3,454), Missouri (+2,744), and Michigan (+1,664), while the largest decreases were in Texas (-3,114), Oregon (-1,822), Virginia (-1,753), Florida (-1,625), and Washington (-1,577).
