(Des Moines)– Iowa’s unemployment rate fell again in recent numbers announced for February. Iowa Workforce Development Director, Beth Townsend, says, “every single county in Iowa had a decline in their unemployment rate.” Townsend credits in part rising inflation and the high cost of gasoline for “driving people back into the workforce,” along with higher demand for workers and the return of warmer weather for outdoor occupations. Democrats have criticized the job numbers, saying it includes people who have to hold two jobs because they don’t pay enough. Townsend disagrees, saying the number of Iowans holding two jobs to make ends meet “is very, very low.”
Iowa’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to three-point-five percent in February from three-point-seven percent in January. That was down from the four-point-four percent jobless rate one year ago in February.
