(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s unemployment rate went up in June to three-point-seven percent, marking the fourth straight month of a one-tenth of a point increase. Iowa Workforce Development director Beth Townsend says the number of people in the workforce also went up again. “I will take an increase with labor force participation rate and a slight increase in unemployment every day of the week,” Townsend says, “because the more people we have who are employed and or looking for work, the better off work we are economically.” She says they saw a group of 39-hundred Iowans return to the workforce in June.

“Especially in women over 45, which was a group that had dropped. About during the pandemic. So that’s a really good sign, and that matches the 39-hundred Iowans who returned last month,” she says. Iowa businesses lost 27-hundred jobs in June, mostly in the private service industries, and losses were partially offset by gains in health care and construction. Townsend says Iowa continues to be in a good situation. “If you look at where we were last June a year ago, we have about 88-hundred more Iowans with jobs in Iowa. So that’s a good sign, right? And seeing this continued trend of more people coming into the labor force, looking for work and or getting work is a good sign as well,” Townsend says.

She says there are plenty of options for people re-entering the workforce, or looking for a new job. “We still have over 50-thousand open jobs in Iowa. Certainly the job market has tightened, but there’s still lots of opportunity available,” she says. The Trump administration is now through its first six months, and Townsend says some of the policy decision could start showing impact. “I think this the next few months will be interesting. Hopefully we’ll have some, we’ll have more and better information to share with you….and we can see what the effect of some of these policy decisions are,” she says.

The U-S unemployment rate decreased to four-point-one- percent in June.