The number of Iowans who filed unemployment claims last week increased 5.5% to 45,032, newly released data from Iowa Workforce Development shows. The number of initial unemployment claims filed during the week that ended Saturday totaled 4,846, a decrease of 283 from the previous week’s adjusted numbers. The state agency also reported that $13.2 million in jobless benefits was paid out of Iowa’s unemployment compensation trust fund. Since mid-March 2020, $1.24 billion has been paid from the fund. The U.S. Department of Labor today reported that 719,000 initial unemployment claims were filed nationally, an increase of 61,000 from the previous week.