Iowa had 4,662 people file initial claims for unemployment last week. According to Iowa Workforce Development, for the week ending October 17th there were 41,967 continuing weekly unemployment claims. That is a decrease of 4,442 from the previous week. The unemployment insurance benefit payments totaled $11.8 million.

The industries with the highest number of claims were manufacturing (946), self-employed or independent contractors (819), healthcare and social assistance (439), construction (369), and retail trade (288).