(Radio Iowa) – The first Iowa unemployment data since the government shutdown is now out. Iowa Workforce Development spokesman Jesse Dougherty says the September unemployment rate fell to three-point-seven percent, down one-tenth of a percent. “We had at least what we would say a solid month is. In terms of some growth and some positive numbers,” he says. Dougherty says there was an increase in the labor force pool and an increase of 37-hundred jobs in September. He says the September data should be viewed with caution as it was delayed by the shutdown.

“Knowing that this data was delayed and knowing that….there’s going to be more data coming in the weeks ahead that will give us some greater insight into the economy. So it’s hard to, I would say it’s hard to draw a lot of conclusions just during September alone. But you know the good news is we’re getting back into the data and we’re, we’re we’re seeing some good indicators for September,” he says.

There have been several announcements of layoffs in manufacturing recently, but he says there has been some good news. “You know, in September specifically, we did have an increase in manufacturing. It was a more modest increase of about 600 jobs…that was particularly in durable goods. But I think the fact that we did have a slight increase was a positive,” Dougherty says. He says we will know more about the layoffs in manufacturing when more data comes out next month as he says there’s a lot of ripple effects in terms of the supply chain and other aspects of business.

Dougherty says the unemployment claims are another economic indicator. “When compared to last year, we have about 25 percent fewer unemployment claims…then we had compared to last year, last September I should say that is a positive,” Dougherty says. “You know we always see an increase due to the winter months, a lot of temporary layoffs. There always is going to be an increase in unemployment claims every single winter. That’s just what happens.”

Dougherty says federal officials expect to release more workforce data on October and November next month.