Iowa’s unemployment rate has risen to 3.3% in November, marking a six-tenths of a percent increase since July and a four-month consecutive rise. The state’s professional and business services sector alone lost around a thousand jobs in the month, alongside a decrease in administrative support staff numbers.

Around 6700 people were found to have left the workforce between October and November, primarily due to retirements and the exit of students who willingly left their jobs. However, according to Beth Townsend, Iowa Workforce Development agency’s director, this is not overly concerning at this point.

Approximately 68% of Iowans, 16 years old or above and actively seeking jobs, were employed in November. This rate is slightly above the country’s average. Compared to pre-pandemic times, this figure represents a slow recovery considering the labor participation rate in Iowa was near 69% before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Iowa also witnessed a minor blow in its manufacturing sector, with approximately 100 layoffs in November. However, this didn’t decline the overall sector growth as it still managed to employ an extra 3000 people compared to January. The maximum job growth, however, in November was in the construction sector, adding 1800 jobs primarily in commercial construction.

The financial services sector also added a thousand jobs in November, a significant aspect as this sector is key to the Iowa economy. The healthcare services saw 1100 people being hired, marking a positive sign as the sector was struggling to hire after the pandemic hit.

As of now, the state’s IowaWORKS website lists 62,000 job openings. The US unemployment rate dropped to 3.7% in November as per government data revealing over 1.67 million people were gainfully employed in Iowa.