The number of Iowans who filed unemployment claims last week slipped to 31,826, a 7% drop from the previous week, new data from Iowa Workforce Development shows. The number of initial unemployment claims filed during the week that ended Saturday totaled 3,375, a decrease of 580 from the previous week’s adjusted numbers. The state agency also reported that $7.7 million in jobless benefits was paid out of Iowa’s unemployment compensation trust fund. Since mid-March 2020, $1.29 billion has been paid from the fund. The U.S. Department of Labor today reported that 498,000 initial unemployment claims were filed nationally, a decrease of 92,000 from the previous week.