7,638 initial unemployment claims were filed last week in Iowa, a decrease of 217 (2.76%) from the previous week.
7,022 initial claims for the week of Jan. 3-9 were by people who work and live in Iowa, and 616 were by individuals who work in Iowa but live outside the state.
"For the week ending Jan. 9, 2021, nearly 68.3% of claimants indicated their claims were not COVID-19 related, which is a decrease from 68.6% the previous week," Iowa Workforce Development said in a release.
The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid spiked last week to 965,000, the most since late August.
$15,638,255.25 in unemployment insurance benefits were paid out in the state last week, an increase of $2,743,609.58 (21.27%) from the previous week.
Continuing claims for the week were 49,451, an increase of 6,286 (14.56%) from the previous week.
IWD said the following industries had the most claims:
- Construction (2,014)
- Manufacturing (1,397)
- Industry Not Available - Self-employed, Independent Contractors, etc (593)
- Retail Trade (560)
- Administrative, Support, Waste Management, and Remediation Services (529)
Additional data released for last week:
- $889,200 in Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) benefits paid, which were retroactive payments as the program ended July 25, 2020. Since April 4, 2020, a total of $1,629,592,633 in FPUC benefits has been paid.
- $4,394,210 paid in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits. Since April 13, 2020, a total of $179,171,319.54 in PUA benefits has been paid.
- $5,536,189.19 in Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) benefits paid. Since May 27, 2020, a total of $191,421,463.04 in PEUC benefits have been paid.
On Jan. 27, 2021, Iowa Workforce Development will transition from Bank of America unemployment debit card payments to the U.S. Bank ReliaCard®. This change only affects those who have opted for an unemployment insurance debit card versus unemployment insurance direct deposit. Claimants who are currently using the Bank of America Debit Card to receive unemployment insurance benefits will be contacted by U.S. Bank in the coming weeks by mail.
—Iowa Workforce Development release
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