Iowa Unemployment Grows to 4.9 Percent in February

Iowa's statewide estimate of those unemployed increased to 82,500 in February from 80,000 in January, Iowa Workforce Development said this week. One year ago, the number of unemployed state residents was 65,500.

That puts Iowa's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 4.9 percent in February, up from 4.8 in January. Job losses for February were heavily concentrated in manufacturing, which was down 8,400 jobs from the prior month. Professional and business services declined by 1,500 in February, while the financial sector was down 1,100.

Principal Financial Group announced it was cutting pay for workers, management, and its board of directors and taking other steps to control costs. The insurance, retirement, and financial-services company said pay would be cut from 2 to 10 percent depending on pay level.

Meanwhile, employees at The Des Moines Register were notified this week by parent company Gannett that wages will be frozen for one year and employees will be furloughed for another week in the second quarter of 2009 as a way to avoid more layoffs. There are about 1,000 employees at The Des Moines Register, the Iowa City Press-Citizen, and the Register's weekly papers.

The news comes after Gannett laid off more than 2,000 employees last year, and after employees were already forced to take a one-week furlough in the first quarter this year.

"Although Iowa remains in a better position than most states to weather the current recession, job losses have deepened over the past six months," said Elisabeth Buck, director of Iowa Workforce Development. "Iowa employers continue to trim their payrolls in response to declining sales and profits."

The U.S. unemployment rate for February increased by one-half of a percentage point to 8.1 percent, the highest level since 1983. The U.S. unemployment rate stood at 4.8 percent one year ago.