The number of Iowans filing weekly unemployment claims slipped to 53,479 in the week that ended on Saturday, a 4.3% decline from the previous week, Iowa Workforce Development reported today.

A year ago, 33,240 Iowans filed unemployment claims in the third week of January, state data shows. More than 20,000 additional people filed a claim this year compared to the same period last year.

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.

Additionally, the state agency reported that during the week that ended on Saturday:

• 6,785 initial claims were filed, 7.8% fewer than the 7,366 new claims filed the previous week.
• Nearly 20%, or 1,327, of new claims were filed by people who worked in construction; another 14%, or 974, of new claims were filed by people who worked in manufacturing.
• $15.3 million in jobless benefits was paid out of the state’s unemployment compensation trust fund. Since mid-March, Iowa has paid out more than $1.1 billion in unemployment claims from the fund.

National data
New unemployment claims filed for week ending Jan. 16: 900,000
People continuing to receive jobless benefits for week ending Jan. 9: 5 million
Advanced seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for week ending Jan. 9: 3.6%

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