Iowa’s businesses added 5,300 jobs in August, helping to push the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate down to 6%, Iowa Workforce Development reported today.

In August 2019, Iowa’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 2.8%; in July 2020, it was 6.8%.

“Thankfully, Iowa’s unemployment rate has continued to decline since our peak month in April, 2020, when we saw initial claims of 157,324,” Beth Townsend, Iowa Workforce Development director, said in a prepared statement. “The sustained decline shows the resilience of Iowa’s economy as we navigate the impact of the pandemic.”

Highlights from today’s release about August unemployment data:

Number of working Iowans: 1,520,200, up from 1,516,200 in July. In August 2019, there were 1,698,300 people working in the state.

Number of nonfarm jobs in Iowa: 1,493,000, up from 1,487,700 in July. A year ago, the state had 1,585,100 non-farm jobs. The 5,300 jobs added in August was considerably lower than the average number of jobs (10,200) added each of the past three months, the state agency reported. The slower growth could be related to cooler weather and businesses “believing that demand will not return to pre-coronavirus levels as quickly as hoped,” the state reported. 

Number of added leisure and hospitality jobs: 1,500 gained, mostly by eating and drinking establishments. The increase, however, is smaller than the three-month average and “may be a sign that bars and restaurants don’t expect to see much in the way of increased traffic within the next few months,” the state reported in its release. There were 114,600 jobs in the state’s leisure and hospitality sectors, 20.8% fewer than in August 2019.

Number of added manufacturing jobs: 1,600 gained in the durable and nondurable goods sectors. The gains marked the fourth consecutive month that Iowa factories added jobs. In August, there were 218,900 manufacturing jobs in the state, 3.1% fewer than the 226,100 a year ago.

Number of unemployed Iowans: 96,500, down from 110,300 in July. In April, when a large percentage of the state’s entertainment-related and retail business were ordered closed because of COVID-19, 188,000 Iowans were unemployed. In August 2019, 48,100 Iowans were unemployed.

Number of unemployment insurance claims: 23,393 initial insurance claims were filed, 36.7% fewer than the 36,935 new claims filed in July. In August 2019, 9,104 new claims were filed.  

Unemployment insurance paid: $96.47 million was paid to unemployed Iowans from the state’s unemployment compensation trust fund. The amount is 40.8% less than the $162.9 million paid out in July. In August 2019, the state paid unemployed Iowans $21.9 million.

U.S. unemployment rate: 8.4%.