Iowa’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate slipped to 3.5% in December, down slightly from 3.7% in November as well as a year ago, according to newly released information from Iowa Workforce Development.

The U.S. unemployment dropped to 3.9% in December. It was 4.2% in November.

In Iowa, the total number of unemployed Iowans dropped to 57,900 in December, down 3,800 from the 61,700 who were unemployed in November, according to the release.

In December, 1,604,800 Iowans were employed, up slightly from the 1,599,600 who were employed in November. Iowa’s labor force participation rate in December was 66.9%.

In December 2019, before the beginning of the pandemic, 1,690,000 Iowans were employed and the labor force participation rate was 70.2%, according to department data. The unemployment rate in December 2019 was 2.8% with 49,100 Iowans out of work.

According to the release, 224,700 Iowans were employed in the manufacturing sector in December, up 2.8% from November when 218,600 were employed.