Iowa's unemployment rate soars to 10.2%
In this Friday, May 1, 2020, photo, medical workers test a local resident at a drive-thru COVID-19 testing site in Waterloo, Iowa.[AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall]
Iowa’s unemployment rate soared to 10.2% in April, reflecting the economic costs of efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Iowa Workforce Development reported Friday that Iowa's unemployment rate rose to 3.3% in March and then roughly tripled in April. Iowa’s April 2019 rate was 2.7%.
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The national unemployment rate for April was 14.7%.
Beth Townsend, director of Iowa Workforce Development, says she was hopeful that as Gov. Kim Reynolds ends restrictions on businesses and gatherings that were intended to prevent outbreaks, the economy will quickly improve.
Reynolds has taken those actions even as the number of deaths blamed on the coronavirus now tops 400 in Iowa.