Des Moines, Iowa — Iowa’s unemployment rate rose slightly to four-point-one percent in July.
That rate is up from four percent in June and the increase is due in part to the number of people looking for work increasing. Iowa Workforce Development says the labor force participation rate increased to 66-point-nine percent compared to 66-point-six percent in June.
A statement from the director of Iowa Workforce Development says, “Iowans are re-entering the labor force in increasing numbers, and this shows that we continue to move in the right direction.”
The unemployment rate was six-point-one-percent one year ago.
The county-by-county unemployment rate is always significantly behind the statewide figures. The last figures available are for June. Up here in northwest Iowa, the June unemployment figures were among the lowest in the state. Lyon County had just 2.3 percent unemployment, with 2.6 percent in Sioux County. Osceola County had 2.7 percent, and O’Brien County had 3.3 percent unemployment for June.
