DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The number of people filing initial unemployment claims in Iowa continued to fall as the state began reopening after taking steps intended to slow spread of the coronavirus. Iowa Workforce Development reported Thursday that 6,920 people filed initial claims in the week ending May 30. That’s a drop of nearly 50% from the previous week. There were 165,195 continuing weekly unemployment claims last week, a decline of 13,000 from the previous week.

The largest number of claims came from people employed in manufacturing. Nationally, nearly 1.9 million people applied for unemployment benefits last week and the total number of people receiving jobless aid increased to 21.5 million. That’s down from a peak of 25 million two weeks ago.