Iowa City, Ia (AP) — A historic surge in unemployment claims continued last week in Iowa as more workers lost their jobs in an economy devastated by the coronavirus. The U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday that 67,334 people in Iowa filed for unemployment benefits in the week that ended April 4. That is roughly the population of Waterloo, Iowa’s sixth-largest city. The labor department said the claims were a 20 percent increase over those filed in Iowa the prior week, which had been a high for the state. Pandemic-related layoffs in several industries, from health care to food services, were driving factors behind Iowa’s claims.
