Des Moines Register: Iowa’s unemployment rate in October dropped close to its pre-pandemic level, the latest federal jobs report showed today. The state’s rate decreased to 3.6% from 4.8% in September, according to the data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The percentage of out-of-work members of the Iowa labor force had been 3.3% in the middle of March, just before a rise in coronavirus cases led to government-ordered temporary shutdowns of many businesses. Iowa’s unemployment rate is tied with South Dakota’s for the third-lowest in the country, behind Vermont’s (3.2%) and Nebraska’s (3%).