(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s unemployment rate in November was three-and-a-half percent. That’s a two-tenths of a percent drop from September — the last month data is available due to the federal government shutdown this fall. Iowa Workforce Development Director Beth Townsend says the number of Iowans in the workforce was basically the same in November compared to September. “Which indicates that all of those folks that we had coming back into the labor force, a lot of them are getting jobs and so that’s a really good sign.” The government’s estimate indicates 67-and-a-half percent of Iowans above the age of 14 who are able to work had a job in November. That remains below pre-pandemic levels. Townsend says there’s no Iowa-specific data, but national reports indicate women are working at about the same rate now as they did in early 2020.

“We have seen more women return to the workforce since the pandemic than we have seen in previous years, but young men generally are…the largest percentage of unemployed,” Townsend said, “and that’s true nationally. That’s a national trend.” In total, about 27-thousand more people were working in Iowa in November compared to the same month in 2024. “We saw job gains in education and health services, in trade, we saw an increase in construction and we saw in professional and business services,” Townsend says. However, about five-thousand more Iowans were unemployed this past November compared to November of 2024. “We saw decreases in jobs in leisure and hospitality, financial activities and manufacturing,” Townsend said.

Nearly one-point-six MILLION Iowans were working in non-farm jobs in November. Iowa Workforce Development’s report indicates there were about 74-hundred more private sector jobs in November compared to November of 2024.