Iowa’s 2025 Report Card: Workforce in Crisis

DES MOINES, IA – On top of Iowa’s economy being ranked the worst in the country this year, layoffs and plant closures have been hitting key industries across the state. Iowa’s unemployment rate has risen over the past year, with more Iowans unemployed in 2025 than last year. A recent Workforce Development report shows Iowa lost 4,000 manufacturing jobs statewide between September 2024 and September 2025.

Workers are being left without ways to provide for their families, businesses are being driven across state lines, and we’re losing our next generation of Iowa workers because our leaders aren’t making Iowa a place people want to live and companies want to plant their roots. These failing grades are not sustainable for Iowa’s future, and Iowans are ready for change.

Take a look at Iowa’s “2025 Report Card” — and why Iowa workers can’t afford more of the same next year:

IOWA’S 2025 REPORT CARD:

WORKFORCE: F

In just one year, Iowa’s unemployment rate has climbed from 3.3 to 3.7 percent, leaving nearly 65,000 Iowans out of work.
Iowa is one of three states to experience an increase in unemployment rates between April to May 2025.
On top of that, layoffs keep piling up. In the past year alone, Iowa has lost more than 9,000 manufacturing jobs, primarily in machinery and food production.
Iowa’s unemployment rate is also rising faster than the national average, growing 0.4% compared to 0.3% from 2024 to 2025.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration’s Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed Iowa ranks 44th in the country for hourly wages, and comes in dead last among all Midwestern states.
In the last ten years, Iowans’ average pay has dropped more than a dollar an hour, and Iowa has fallen 11 spots in hourly wage rankings — slipping behind neighboring states like Kansas, South Dakota, and Nebraska.
In fact, Iowans are getting paid nearly $9 an hour less than workers in Minnesota