The number of Iowans who filed unemployment claims last week fell to 43,663, the lowest it has been since the week of Dec. 12 when 44,644 claims were filed, newly released data from Iowa Workforce Development shows. The number of initial unemployment claims filed during the week that ended on Saturday totaled 5,498, a decrease of 252 from the previous week’s adjusted numbers. The state agency also reported that $13.3 million in jobless benefits was paid out of Iowa’s unemployment compensation trust fund. Since mid-March 2020, $1.2 billion has been paid from the fund. The U.S. Department of Labor today reported that 684,000 initial unemployment claims were filed nationally, a decrease of 97,000 from the previous week.