Des Moines, Iowa (Radio Iowa) — The unemployment rate in the state of Iowa held firm in July. Cory Kelly is a spokesman for Iowa Workforce Development, and he says business continued to expand during the month.
The unemployment rate stayed the same despite the number of unemployed Iowans increasing to 54-thousand-400 in July. The number of unemployed is 93-hundred less than one year ago. Kelly says the manufacturing sector has helped the jobs picture — growing each of the last three months.
The animal processing and food production facilities led in the increase in non-durable goods job growth. The health care industry lost some jobs in July, but remains on a positive trend for the year.
The construction industry had been pushing jobs up — but it saw a slowdown with a loss of 23-hundred jobs in July.
The July unemployment rate one year ago was a half-a-percent higher at three-point-seven percent. The unemployment rate has held at just above three percent for most of this year. It started out at three-point-four percent in January, dropped to three-point-two in February. It dropped again in March to three-point-one percent, and held there until moving back up to three-point-two percent in June. The federal unemployment rate in July dropped slightly to four-point-three percent.
