Essential Estrogen

Iowa's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is up again -- now at 4 percent for December 2007 -- and has officials pointing to ripples from the housing crisis.

"The statewide unemployment rate followed the national trend in December, and increased to the highest level for the year," said Elisabeth Buck, director of Workforce Development. "The current month's data suggest that the housing slowdown is starting to have a wider impact on the Iowa economy."

According to a report issued in late December by the Joint Economic Committee, a bicameral congressional committee composed of 10 members from the U.S. Senate and 10 members from the House of Representatives, in three years delinquent mortgages in Iowa rose from 12,400 to 21,600. An earlier report by the same committee estimated the number of subprime foreclosures between the third quarter of 2007 and the end of 2009 will total 8,100. The group estimates that subprime foreclosures during that time alone will cost Iowa $261 million.

Iowa posted a 3.9 percent unemployment rate in November 2007 -- the highest the state had experienced since January 2006. During December the rate climbed slightly, with unemployment now standing at 4 percent. Neighboring states of Illinois, Missouri and Minnesota also experienced increases in their December unemployment rates.

The estimate of unemployed persons increased by nearly 3,000 from November to December, with the state total being 67,600. One year ago, the number of unemployed in the state was 57,600.

Iowa's numbers still fall well below the posted 5 percent national unemployment rate for December. A year earlier the national rate was 4.6 percent.

Unemployment data for January is not expected to be released until March, due to annual benchmarking.