Statewide Iowa — (RI) — The state unemployment rate is back in a holding pattern again, staying at two-point-five percent in September.
Iowa Workforce Development deputy director, Ryan West, says it’s the third month at that rate after 12 straight months where it held at two-point-four percent.
The unemployment rate hasn’t changed, but there has been movement both ways in the September job market.
He says the increase in workers getting into the workforce offset an increase in people who don’t have a job.
The total number of working Iowans has increased by 45-thousand-200 compared to last September. West says a lot of the increase in labor is companies hiring extra workers to get work finished before the winter weather sets in. West says it is hard to get a handle on how long it takes someone who loses a job to get a new one.
He says the time of year and type of employment play a big role in how quickly someone gets a new job. West says Iowa Workforce Development sometimes tries to help people get back into the workforce by expanding their search beyond the job they held in the past.
Iowa’s unemployment rate remains well below the U.S. rate, which fell to three-point-five percent in September.
