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Initial jobless claims in Iowa up nearly 9% last week

Continuing claims for the week were 45,597, an increase of 2,634 (5.61%) from the previous week.

IOWA, USA — 5,457 initial unemployment claims were filed last week in Iowa, a decrease of 531 (8.87%) from the previous week.

4,932 initial claims for the week of Feb. 14-21 were by people who work and live in Iowa, and 525 were by individuals who work in Iowa but live outside the state.

For the week ending Feb. 20, 2021, nearly 64.5% of claimants indicated their claims were not COVID-19 related, which is a decrease from 68.8% the previous week," Iowa Workforce Development said in a release.

730,000 Americans applied for unemployment last week, down 111,000 from the previous week.

$16,612,317.55 in unemployment insurance benefits were paid out in the state last week, a weekly increase of $223,781.91 (1.37%).

Continuing claims for the week were 45,597, an increase of 2,634 (5.61%) from the previous week.

IWD said the following industries had the most claims:

  • Construction (1,125)
  • Manufacturing (1,120)
  • Industry Not Available - Self-employed, Independent Contractors, etc (747)
  • Retail Trade (343)
  • Health Care & Social Assistance (298)

Additional data released for last week: 

  • $31,129,500 in Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) benefits paid, which include retroactive payments and reauthorized payments that went into effect on Dec. 27, 2020. Since April 4, 2020, a total of $1,737,837,133 in FPUC benefits has been paid.
  • $4,653,555 paid in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits. Since April 13, 2020, a total of $206,835,605.54 in PUA benefits has been paid.
  • $14,589,166.63 paid in Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) benefits. Since May 27, 2020, a total of $223,730,209.37 in PEUC benefits have been paid.  (IWD notes: "The increase in PEUC and FPUC benefits paid this week reflects the number of Iowans who have been paid under the second PEUC program created by Congress in the second stimulus act, that was implemented on February 16, 2021.")

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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