Businesses in Iowa added 3,400 jobs in April, fueled by gains in the accommodations and food services sector, Iowa Workforce Development data shows.

Overall, the state’s nonfarm employment grew to 1,580,300, up slightly from March when it was 1,576,900, state data shows. In the past year, however, Iowa’s total nonfarm employment has shrunk by 15,100 workers.

In April, accommodations and food services added 1,600 jobs, pushing the number of people employed in the sector to 121,900, data shows. The sub-sectors of food service contractors and limited-service restaurants propelled the growth, according to a news release. Since January, the sector has added 2,700 jobs.

Construction also continues to be a strong growth area for Iowa. In April, 86,300 people were employed in the sector, 200 more than in March and 1,200 more since January.

Manufacturing added 400 jobs in April, increasing the number of workers in the sector to 214,300. Since January, however, the sector has lost 800 workers; it has 3,800 fewer than a year ago.

Also in April, retail trade shed 1,400 jobs; trade, transportation and utilities shed 700 jobs.

Iowa’s unemployment rate in April was 3.3%; in March it was 3.4%. The U.S. unemployment rate in April remained unchanged at 4.3%.

Iowa’s labor participation rate in April was 67.5%, down slightly from March’s rate of 67.7%. 

The full April jobs report release is available online. 

UnityPoint announced more layoffs
UnityPoint Health plans to lay off an additional 14 workers from its Des Moines information technology department, boosting the total number of layoffs to 221, Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notices show. The layoffs are effective July 24. In April, UnityPoint Health announced it plans to outsource portions of its IT and billing and payment operations to third-party operators. UnityPoint Health operates clinics and hospitals in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin.