The number of Iowans filing weekly unemployment claims climbed to 52,137 in the week that ended on Saturday, a 15% increase from the previous week, Iowa Workforce Development reported today.

A year ago, 39,135 Iowans filed unemployment claims in the week that ended on Jan. 4, 2020, according to state data. That number of claims is 13,002 fewer than the number filed last week. 

The state agency has said that typically there is an increase in the number of unemployment claims filed between November and February because of seasonal layoffs due to colder weather. Nearly 32% of Iowans who filed claims last week indicated their unemployment was COVID-19-related, the agency reported. The percentage is up nearly 3 points from the previous week.

Included among the most recent unemployment filings were 8,236 initial claims filed by Iowans, the agency reported. Last week’s initial claims were 15% more than the 7,141 filed in the week that ended Dec. 26.

Additionally, the state agency reported that during the week that ended on Saturday:
•Nearly 25%, or 2,026, of the new claims were filed by people who worked in construction; another 20% or 1,698, of new claims were filed by people who worked in manufacturing.
•$12.89 million in jobless benefits was paid out of the state’s unemployment compensation trust fund. Since mid-March, Iowa has paid out more than $1.08 billion in unemployment claims from the fund.  
•$681,000 was paid in Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation benefits, which were retroactive payments for the program that ended July 25. Since April 4, a total of $1.62 billion in benefits has been paid from the fund.
•$4 million was paid in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits. Since April 13, $185.8 million has been paid from the fund.

National data
New unemployment claims filed for week ending Jan. 2: 787,000
People continuing to receive jobless benefits for week ending Dec. 26: 5 million
Advanced seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for week ending Dec. 26: 3.5%

Note: The continuing claims and unemployment rate lag by a week from initial claims filings.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor

Related article:Iowa’s unemployment trust fund remains solvent