In the last full week of March there were nearly $14 million unemployment insurance benefits paid to claimants in Iowa. According to Iowa Workforce Development, from March 22-28 Iowa had 58,453 initial claims of people who work in Iowa. That time period reflects increased claim numbers related to COVID-19. The areas with the highest claimants were accommodation and food services, health care and social assistance, manufacturing, and retail trade.

Iowa Workforce Development is continuing to process unemployment insurance claims and there is an unprecedented number of calls, with wait times of more than 15 minutes. Iowa Workforce Development encourages people to visit their website to file their initial and weekly unemployment insurance claim.