Iowa unemployment rate drops to 8% in June

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Iowa’s unemployment rate dropped to 8% in June as the state’s economy continued to recover after being hit hard by efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus, a state agency reported Friday.

Iowa Workforce Development said the 8% unemployment rate was down from 10.2% in May.

The number of unemployed residents dropped from 173,000 in May to 131,200 in June.

Iowa’s unemployment rate remains far higher than before the coronavirus pandemic, as the jobless rate was 2.7% in June 2019.

The national unemployment rate in June was 11.1%.