Iowa Workforce Development announced that the employer contribution rate table for unemployment insurance premiums will remain the same in 2017. That contribution rate table — Table 6 — has been in effect for 10 of the past 15 years. The average unemployment insurance rate for employers will be 1.57 percent, IWD Director Beth Townsend said in a release. Last year the average rate increased from 1.24 percent. “We still have a large number of zero-rated employers, and Iowa’s unemployment tax rate remains low, due to the strength of our Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund,” Townsend said. The rate table trigger formula is designed to enable the trust fund to keep pace with potential liabilities as covered employment and wages grow.