Iowa’s labor force participation rate continued to shrink in March, the fourth consecutive month the rate has declined, Iowa Workforce Development reported today.

In March, the state’s labor force participation rate was 67%, the lowest it has been since April 2021’s rate of 67.1%, agency data shows. The rate has fallen each month since December, when it was 67.5%.

Since March 2023, Iowa’s labor force has shrunk by 16,600 people, from 1,713,500 to 1,696,900 in March 2024, agency data shows. In January 2020, two months prior to the start of the pandemic, Iowa had 1,737,000 people in its workforce, data shows.

In February, Beth Townsend, Iowa Workforce Development’s executive director, attributed the decline in labor participation to young people leaving the workforce for education.

The agency’s March employment report also showed that:

• Iowa’s unemployment rate was 2.9%, a slight drop from February’s revised rate of 3%. There were 48,700 unemployed Iowans in March, compared to 50,200 in February.
• 4,400 jobs were added. Sectors that added jobs were professional and business services (2,200); trade, transportation and utilities (1,800); and construction (900). Education and health services lost 500 jobs and financial activities lost 400 jobs.
• More than 60,000 job openings are posted at IowaWORKS.gov.

The U.S. unemployment rate in March was 3.8 %, down slightly from 3.9% in February.