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Iowa’s unemployment rate edged up slightly in August, the first increase in months. Iowa Workforce Development Executive Director Beth Townsend says the conditions are affecting nationally.
“It looks like the national economy is having a little more impact on Iowa than we’d like to see,” she says. “You know, we’re not immune to inflation and rising gas prices and things like that. And that’s why we saw an uptick.” Iowa’s unemployment rate rose from 2.7% in July to 2.9% in August, while the national rate increased from 3.5% to 3.8%.
She says these national economic factors can influence the decisions of Iowa businesses. “Maybe some employers are downsizing, maybe it affects their business even slightly. You know, even if employers are only cutting a few jobs individually, which might add up to, I mean, two-tenths of a point, we’re not talking about a significant number, Townsend says.
Townsend says there have been successes in some areas. “Employers actually added 2,400 jobs in August, and that was after three months of job losses. So that was a good, good sign. And this, I believe, is primarily in recreation and hospitality. And then education and healthcare,” she says.
Townsend says the job market in Iowa remains very strong. “One of the numbers I think is important to remember is that the average length of unemployment remains historically low,” Townsend says. “So it was nine whole seven weeks in August. So people, even when immediately unemployed, find work in the shortest amount of time we’ve seen since 1967. Or in the shortest amount of time, since we have seen since those 67 years.’
Some critics say the jobs people get don’t pay enough to live on. Townsend says many fields pay good wages. “I would argue that the jobs available are not good. This is actually not true. I mean, there are really good jobs out there,” Townsend says. “And people who find employment faster get good jobs. They’re not just taking low-paying or entry-level jobs, they’re finding career opportunities.”
Townsend says jobs in health and social care, for example, start at $20 to $25 an hour. And manufacturing jobs increased by 600 with wages starting well above $15 an hour.
